Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. Boosts Holdings in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its position in shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 0.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 30,880 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.’s holdings in American Electric Power were worth $3,168,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hodges Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of American Electric Power during the 1st quarter valued at $1,615,000. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in American Electric Power during the first quarter valued at about $1,731,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in American Electric Power by 381.9% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,995,884 shares of the company’s stock worth $171,127,000 after purchasing an additional 1,581,734 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 646.9% in the 1st quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC now owns 261,440 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,510,000 after purchasing an additional 226,435 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of American Electric Power by 21.7% during the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 582,692 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,170,000 after purchasing an additional 103,771 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays boosted their target price on American Electric Power from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of American Electric Power from $98.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of American Electric Power from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on American Electric Power in a report on Friday, September 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $107.00 price objective on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, American Electric Power has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $98.43.

American Electric Power Stock Performance

Shares of AEP stock opened at $100.16 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.58, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.54. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $100.49 and a 200 day moving average of $93.52. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a 52 week low of $72.01 and a 52 week high of $105.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 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 posted $1.13 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.6 earnings per share for the current year.

American Electric Power Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th were paid a $0.88 dividend. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. American Electric Power’s payout ratio is presently 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.