American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) Position Increased by Columbia Asset Management

Columbia Asset Management increased its stake in shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,496 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 128 shares during the quarter. Columbia Asset Management’s holdings in American Electric Power were worth $876,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AEP. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of American Electric Power during the fourth quarter worth approximately $220,983,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in 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 valued at $385,079,000 after acquiring an additional 1,962,125 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in American Electric Power by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,902,755 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,760,223,000 after acquiring an additional 1,114,954 shares during the period. Zacks Investment Management bought a new position in shares of American Electric Power in the third quarter worth $80,207,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,690,606 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,767,425,000 after purchasing an additional 763,813 shares during the period. 75.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AEP has been the topic of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $107.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $102.00 price objective (down previously from $109.00) on shares of American Electric Power in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on American Electric Power from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim upgraded American Electric Power from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Bank of America boosted 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, March 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.77.

American Electric Power Stock Down 0.8 %

AEP stock opened at $108.37 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $103.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $99.17. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a 52-week low of $79.16 and a 52-week high of $109.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 0.44 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.50.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $1.24 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.24. American Electric Power had a return on equity of 11.27% and a net margin of 15.08%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.23 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

American Electric Power Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.43%.

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.