Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT Makes New Investment in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT bought a new position in shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 2,307 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. L & S Advisors Inc acquired a new position in shares of American Electric Power in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,398,000. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new position in American Electric Power during the second quarter worth about $1,355,000. Excalibur Management Corp grew its stake in American Electric Power by 15.5% in the second quarter. Excalibur Management Corp now owns 3,782 shares of the company’s stock valued at $332,000 after acquiring an additional 507 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 8,674.0% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 300,510 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,367,000 after acquiring an additional 297,085 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of American Electric Power by 1.6% during the second quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 38,590 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,389,000 after purchasing an additional 620 shares during the period. 75.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

American Electric Power Price Performance

NASDAQ:AEP opened at $102.15 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $98.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $90.96. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a 52-week low of $69.38 and a 52-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 $53.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.54.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $4.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.74 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.13 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Electric Power Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th were given a $0.88 dividend. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.45%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.31%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AEP. Barclays boosted their price objective on American Electric Power from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of American Electric Power from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of American Electric Power from $101.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on American Electric Power from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, American Electric Power presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $96.00.

About American Electric Power

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.