New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 53,165 Shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lowered its holdings in shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 7.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 649,370 shares of the company’s stock after selling 53,165 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in American Electric Power were worth $52,742,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AEP. BLB&B Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of American Electric Power by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. BLB&B Advisors LLC now owns 3,405 shares of the company’s stock valued at $277,000 after buying an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC raised its position in shares of American Electric Power by 4.4% in the third quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 3,150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $237,000 after buying an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co raised its position in shares of American Electric Power by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 14,598 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,186,000 after buying an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of American Electric Power by 3.1% in the third quarter. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,715 shares of the company’s stock valued at $355,000 after buying an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nicolet Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of American Electric Power by 5.0% in the third quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,996 shares of the company’s stock valued at $220,000 after buying an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. 75.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AEP shares. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH downgraded shares of American Electric Power from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $75.50 to $73.00 in a research report on Friday, March 8th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of American Electric Power from $87.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Cfra reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $92.00 price objective (up from $90.00) on shares of American Electric Power in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. UBS Group cut shares of American Electric Power from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $86.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Finally, Mizuho cut shares of American Electric Power from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $83.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Electric Power has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.08.

American Electric Power Price Performance

AEP stock opened at $85.56 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $45.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.13, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.51. 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 Company, Inc. has a 12-month low of $69.38 and a 12-month high of $94.73. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $83.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $80.25.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last released its 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). The firm had revenue of $4.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.12 billion. American Electric Power had a net margin of 11.64% and a return on equity of 11.04%. American Electric Power’s quarterly revenue was down 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.05 EPS. On average, analysts expect 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.88 per share. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.11%. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.82%.

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.