American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.93

American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, October 22nd, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th will be given a dividend of 0.93 per share on Tuesday, December 10th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This is a positive change from American Electric Power’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88.

American Electric Power has raised its dividend by an average of 5.9% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 15 years. American Electric Power has a payout ratio of 62.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect American Electric Power to earn $5.96 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.72 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 62.4%.

American Electric Power Trading Down 4.1 %

Shares of AEP stock opened at $96.25 on Thursday. American Electric Power has a twelve month low of $74.97 and a twelve month high of $105.18. The company has a market capitalization of $51.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.17, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.55. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $100.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $94.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $5.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.39 billion. American Electric Power had a net margin of 13.52% and a return on equity of 11.31%. Research analysts forecast that American Electric Power will post 5.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on AEP. Guggenheim increased their target price 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. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Barclays upped their price target on shares of 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. Scotiabank lifted 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. 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 analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.43.

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.