Scotiabank Increases American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) Price Target to $108.00

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) had its price target lifted by equities researchers at Scotiabank from $99.00 to $108.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “sector outperform” rating on the stock. Scotiabank’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 10.19% from the stock’s previous close.

AEP has been the topic of a number of other reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on American Electric Power from $98.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on American Electric Power from $84.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of American Electric Power from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $73.00 to $86.00 in a report on Thursday, June 6th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of American Electric Power from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of American Electric Power from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $94.08.

American Electric Power Stock Performance

AEP stock opened at $98.01 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.37. American Electric Power has a 1-year low of $69.38 and a 1-year high of $104.41. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $92.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $87.81. The company has a market capitalization of $51.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.18, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.53.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.02. American Electric Power had a net margin of 13.52% and a return on equity of 11.31%. The business had revenue of $4.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.74 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.13 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that American Electric Power will post 5.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Electric Power

In related news, EVP Greg B. Hall sold 5,880 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.25, for a total value of $518,910.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 6,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $563,476.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other American Electric Power news, EVP Antonio P. Smyth sold 4,898 shares of American Electric Power stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total transaction of $440,820.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,446 shares in the company, valued at approximately $580,140. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Greg B. Hall sold 5,880 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.25, for a total transaction of $518,910.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $563,476.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AEP. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in American Electric Power by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 49,630,436 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,273,181,000 after purchasing an additional 405,114 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in American Electric Power by 9.9% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 8,586,577 shares of the company’s stock worth $739,303,000 after buying an additional 776,965 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in American Electric Power by 1.1% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,378,543 shares of the company’s stock valued at $296,433,000 after buying an additional 35,769 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in American Electric Power by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,983,393 shares of the company’s stock valued at $242,311,000 after buying an additional 147,826 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp increased its holdings in American Electric Power by 542.4% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 2,282,571 shares of the company’s stock valued at $193,541,000 after buying an additional 1,927,234 shares in the last quarter. 75.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

American Electric Power Company 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.