Stanley Laman Group Ltd. Acquires 123 Shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

Stanley Laman Group Ltd. grew its stake in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 5,782 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 123 shares during the quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd.’s holdings in American Electric Power were worth $593,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in American Electric Power by 0.8% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 worth $739,303,000 after acquiring an additional 776,965 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in American Electric Power by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 4,543,771 shares of the company’s stock valued at $466,191,000 after purchasing an additional 341,846 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 35,769 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp boosted its stake in American Electric Power by 542.4% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 2,282,571 shares of the company’s stock worth $193,541,000 after purchasing an additional 1,927,234 shares in the last quarter. 75.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

American Electric Power Stock Up 0.9 %

NASDAQ:AEP opened at $100.83 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $100.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $93.63. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a 52-week low of $73.75 and a 52-week high of $105.18. The company has a market cap of $53.15 billion, a PE ratio of 18.71, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.54. 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 (NASDAQ:AEP) last issued 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 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 period last year, the business earned $1.13 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Electric Power Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be paid a $0.93 dividend. This is a positive change from American Electric Power’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.69%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. American Electric Power’s payout ratio is presently 65.31%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AEP. Barclays raised their target price on American Electric Power from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Wells Fargo & Company raised 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 report on Wednesday, October 16th. Bank of America upped 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. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of American Electric Power from $102.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on American Electric Power from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.43.

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.