American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) Shares Sold by Amundi

Amundi lowered its position in shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 17.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,723,583 shares of the company’s stock after selling 571,563 shares during the period. Amundi’s holdings in American Electric Power were worth $251,278,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AEP. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. acquired a new stake in American Electric Power in the third quarter valued at $4,015,000. Graypoint LLC increased its position in American Electric Power by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 5,070 shares of the company’s stock worth $520,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in American Electric Power in the 3rd quarter valued at about $214,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 640,029 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,667,000 after purchasing an additional 19,081 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Portside Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in American Electric Power by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 6,765 shares of the company’s stock worth $694,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AEP. Scotiabank cut American Electric Power from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $105.00 to $102.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays decreased their price target on American Electric Power from $100.00 to $99.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of American Electric Power from $108.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Guggenheim upgraded shares of American Electric Power from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of American Electric Power from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $98.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $98.46.

American Electric Power Price Performance

AEP opened at $104.62 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $99.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $98.64. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $79.16 and a fifty-two week high of $109.52. The firm has a market cap of $55.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.50.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.24. American Electric Power had a return on equity of 11.27% and a net margin of 15.08%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.23 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

American Electric Power Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. American Electric Power’s payout ratio is 66.43%.

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.