Morgan Stanley Increases American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) Price Target to $108.00

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) had its price target increased by Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $108.00 in a report published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on AEP. Barclays lifted their price objective 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective 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. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of American Electric Power from a sell rating to a neutral rating and raised their price target for the company from $73.00 to $86.00 in a report on Thursday, June 6th. Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of American Electric Power from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of American Electric Power from $99.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a sector outperform rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, American Electric Power has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $96.43.

American Electric Power Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of AEP stock opened at $101.84 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $99.71 and a 200-day moving average of $91.63. 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 has a 12-month low of $69.38 and a 12-month high of $105.18. The firm has a market cap of $53.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.89, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.54.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analyst estimates of $4.74 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.13 EPS. American Electric Power’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that American Electric Power will post 5.6 earnings per share for the current year.

American Electric Power Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th were issued a dividend of $0.88 per share. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.31%.

Institutional Trading of American Electric Power

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake 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 worth $4,273,181,000 after purchasing an additional 405,114 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in American Electric Power by 9.9% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 8,586,577 shares of the company’s stock worth $739,303,000 after purchasing an additional 776,965 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in American Electric Power by 1.1% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,378,543 shares of the company’s stock worth $296,433,000 after purchasing an additional 35,769 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp lifted 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in American Electric Power in the fourth quarter worth $175,667,000. 75.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.