Asset Dedication LLC Trims Holdings in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

Asset Dedication LLC decreased its position in shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 39.6% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 4,900 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,217 shares during the quarter. Asset Dedication LLC’s holdings in American Electric Power were worth $503,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of American Electric Power by 0.8% during the first 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 lifted its position 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 valued at $739,303,000 after purchasing an additional 776,965 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,378,543 shares of the company’s stock worth $296,433,000 after buying an additional 35,769 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp raised its position in shares of American Electric Power by 542.4% during the 1st 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. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of American Electric Power by 381.9% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,995,884 shares of the company’s stock valued at $171,127,000 after buying an additional 1,581,734 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on AEP. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on American Electric Power from $98.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on American Electric Power in a research report on Friday, September 20th. They set a “hold” rating and a $107.00 target price for the company. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of American Electric Power from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on American Electric Power from $101.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $98.14.

American Electric Power Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AEP opened at $101.32 on Thursday. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $72.01 and a fifty-two week high of $105.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.65. The company has a market cap of $53.41 billion, a PE ratio of 18.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.54. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $100.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $93.12.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.23 by $0.02. American Electric Power had a return on equity of 11.31% and a net margin of 13.52%. The company had revenue of $4.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.74 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.13 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Electric Power Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 9th were issued a $0.88 dividend. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.47%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. American Electric Power’s payout ratio is 65.31%.

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.