ARS Investment Partners LLC Acquires 700 Shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

ARS Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 6.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 11,568 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 700 shares during the quarter. ARS Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in American Electric Power were worth $1,067,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AEP. Rezny Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of American Electric Power by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Rezny Wealth Management Inc. now owns 16,917 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,560,000 after purchasing an additional 357 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its position in American Electric Power by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 12,539 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,156,000 after buying an additional 1,184 shares during the last quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. raised its position in American Electric Power by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 435,479 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,164,000 after buying an additional 23,676 shares during the last quarter. Tudor Financial Inc. raised its position in American Electric Power by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Tudor Financial Inc. now owns 13,135 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,211,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Koshinski Asset Management Inc. raised its position in American Electric Power by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,989 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,198,000 after buying an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. 75.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on AEP. Scotiabank lowered American Electric Power from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $105.00 to $102.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on American Electric Power from $97.00 to $96.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on American Electric Power from $109.00 to $104.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on American Electric Power from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on American Electric Power from $108.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.00.

American Electric Power Price Performance

Shares of AEP stock opened at $97.25 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $51.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.49, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.56. The business’s fifty day moving average is $94.52 and its 200 day moving average is $96.97. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a twelve month low of $75.22 and a twelve month high of $105.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47.

American Electric Power Profile

American Electric Power Company, Inc, an electric public utility holding company, engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity for sale to retail and wholesale customers in the United States. It operates through Vertically Integrated Utilities, Transmission and Distribution Utilities, AEP Transmission Holdco, and Generation & Marketing segments.