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

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) had its price objective upped by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $108.00 in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 6.28% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on AEP. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of American Electric Power in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $107.00 price target for the company. Barclays increased their price target on shares of American Electric Power from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of American Electric Power from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of American Electric Power from $101.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $96.43.

American Electric Power Price Performance

Shares of AEP stock traded up $0.21 on Wednesday, reaching $101.62. 744,441 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,196,848. The company has a market cap of $54.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.54. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $99.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $91.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.65. American Electric Power has a 1 year low of $69.38 and a 1 year high of $105.18.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $4.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.74 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.13 EPS. American Electric Power’s revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that American Electric Power will post 5.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Electric Power

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of American Electric Power by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 49,630,436 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,273,181,000 after buying an additional 405,114 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of American Electric Power by 9.9% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 8,586,577 shares of the company’s stock valued at $739,303,000 after buying an additional 776,965 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position 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 valued at $296,433,000 after buying an additional 35,769 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp grew its position in shares of American Electric Power by 542.4% in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new position in shares of American Electric Power in the 4th quarter valued at $175,667,000. 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.