Court Place Advisors LLC Lowers Stake in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

Court Place Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 7.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,264 shares of the company’s stock after selling 269 shares during the quarter. Court Place Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Electric Power were worth $265,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in American Electric Power by 14.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 28,591,562 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,150,657,000 after buying an additional 3,589,451 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in American Electric Power by 99,268.2% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,804,171 shares of the company’s stock valued at $266,256,000 after buying an additional 2,801,349 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in American Electric Power by 23.7% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,357,327 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,268,278,000 after buying an additional 2,560,192 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in American Electric Power by 41.7% in the 2nd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 7,340,523 shares of the company’s stock valued at $618,073,000 after buying an additional 2,161,083 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC lifted its stake in American Electric Power by 26,257.9% in the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 1,900,930 shares of the company’s stock valued at $172,966,000 after buying an additional 1,893,718 shares in the last quarter. 75.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on AEP. StockNews.com downgraded shares of American Electric Power from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of American Electric Power from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday. UBS Group downgraded shares of American Electric Power from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $86.00 to $83.00 in a report on Monday, March 11th. Mizuho downgraded shares of American Electric Power from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $83.00 price target for the company. in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of American Electric Power from $87.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $87.15.

American Electric Power Stock Performance

NASDAQ AEP traded up $1.73 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $81.24. 2,290,496 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,775,774. The company has a market cap of $42.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.51. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a 12-month low of $69.38 and a 12-month high of $94.73. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $82.54 and a 200 day moving average of $79.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.26 by ($0.03). American Electric Power had a return on equity of 11.04% and a net margin of 11.64%. The firm had revenue of $4.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.05 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.54 earnings per share for the current year.

American Electric Power Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 9th were issued a $0.88 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 8th. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.33%. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.82%.

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.