American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) Given New $113.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) had its price target raised by Morgan Stanley from $108.00 to $113.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on American Electric Power from $108.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Scotiabank lowered shares of American Electric Power from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $105.00 to $102.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim upgraded shares of American Electric Power from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Bank of America lifted their price objective on American Electric Power from $108.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on American Electric Power from $100.00 to $99.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $99.92.

American Electric Power Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ AEP opened at $106.21 on Thursday. American Electric Power has a 12-month low of $79.16 and a 12-month high of $109.52. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $101.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $99.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46. The company has a market cap of $56.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.50.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.24. American Electric Power had a net margin of 15.08% and a return on equity of 11.27%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.23 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that American Electric Power will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Electric Power Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.50%. American Electric Power’s payout ratio is 66.43%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AEP. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of American Electric Power in the 4th quarter valued at about $220,983,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its position in American Electric Power by 51.0% during the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 6,416,474 shares of the company’s stock worth $591,791,000 after acquiring an additional 2,165,888 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 109.5% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,753,250 shares of the company’s stock worth $385,079,000 after acquiring an additional 1,962,125 shares in the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. acquired a new position in American Electric Power during the fourth quarter worth $121,605,000. Finally, State Street Corp grew its position in American Electric Power by 4.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,902,755 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,760,223,000 after purchasing an additional 1,114,954 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

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.