First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Grows Position in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. lifted its position in shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 32,720 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 538 shares during the quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in American Electric Power were worth $3,357,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AEP. Bank of America lifted their price target on American Electric Power from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $99.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of American Electric Power from $98.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. 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. Finally, Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.43.

American Electric Power Stock Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ AEP opened at $100.69 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $100.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $93.34. The company has a market capitalization of $53.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.54. 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 Company, Inc. has a 52 week low of $72.01 and a 52 week high of $105.18.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.23 by $0.02. American Electric Power had a return on equity of 11.31% and a net margin of 13.52%. The firm had revenue of $4.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.74 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.13 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.6 earnings per share for the current year.

American Electric Power Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 9th were issued a $0.88 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.50%. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.31%.

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.