Family Legacy Inc. Lowers Stake in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

Family Legacy Inc. trimmed its stake in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 5,884 shares of the company’s stock after selling 124 shares during the quarter. Family Legacy Inc.’s holdings in American Electric Power were worth $543,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of American Electric Power in the 4th quarter valued at about $220,983,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position 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 worth $385,079,000 after acquiring an additional 1,962,125 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,114,954 shares in the last quarter. Zacks Investment Management bought a new position in American Electric Power during the third quarter valued at about $80,207,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,690,606 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,767,425,000 after purchasing an additional 763,813 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of American Electric Power from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim raised American Electric Power from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank cut American Electric Power from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $105.00 to $102.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $108.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $102.00 target price (down from $109.00) on shares of American Electric Power in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.77.

American Electric Power Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of AEP stock opened at $106.96 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.44. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $79.16 and a fifty-two week high of $109.52. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $102.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $99.10. The company has a market cap of $57.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.10, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.50.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 prior year, the firm earned $1.23 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

American Electric Power Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.