Moors & Cabot Inc. Sells 222 Shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

Moors & Cabot Inc. trimmed its holdings in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 17,165 shares of the company’s stock after selling 222 shares during the quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc.’s holdings in American Electric Power were worth $1,506,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Excalibur Management Corp grew its stake in American Electric Power by 15.5% during 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 in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its position in shares of American Electric Power by 8,674.0% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 300,510 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,367,000 after purchasing an additional 297,085 shares in the last quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 1.6% in 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 last quarter. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC boosted its stake in American Electric Power by 18.1% during the second quarter. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC now owns 4,918 shares of the company’s stock valued at $432,000 after buying an additional 755 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in American Electric Power by 10.7% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,459,848 shares of the company’s stock worth $128,094,000 after acquiring an additional 141,556 shares during the last quarter. 75.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Electric Power Price Performance

Shares of AEP stock opened at $104.21 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $98.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $90.67. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $54.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.54.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.23 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $4.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.74 billion. American Electric Power had a net margin of 13.52% and a return on equity of 11.31%. The business’s revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.59 earnings per share for the current year.

American Electric Power Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th were paid a dividend of $0.88 per share. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.31%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Bank of America increased their target price on American Electric Power from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of American Electric Power from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of American Electric Power from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $73.00 to $86.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. Guggenheim lifted their price target on American Electric Power from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on American Electric Power from $99.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $95.15.

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.