Sciencast Management LP Takes Position in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

Sciencast Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 14,474 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,335,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 4.3% during 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 2.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,524,692 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,280,655,000 after purchasing an additional 352,588 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 18.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,866,952 shares of the company’s stock valued at $704,549,000 after purchasing an additional 1,087,163 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of American Electric Power by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 4,644,349 shares of the company’s stock worth $427,009,000 after buying an additional 100,578 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of American Electric Power by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,844,201 shares of the company’s stock worth $354,551,000 after buying an additional 84,704 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AEP has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of American Electric Power from $100.00 to $99.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of American Electric Power from $108.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of American Electric Power from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Scotiabank downgraded shares of American Electric Power from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $105.00 to $102.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of American Electric Power from $108.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $99.92.

American Electric Power Stock Performance

American Electric Power stock opened at $105.11 on Friday. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a 12 month low of $79.16 and a 12 month high of $109.52. The company has a market cap of $56.10 billion, a PE ratio of 18.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.50. 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 company has a fifty day moving average price of $101.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $99.07.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate 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 in the prior year, the business earned $1.23 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

American Electric Power Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.54%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.43%.

American Electric Power 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.