8,433 Shares in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) Bought by Bailard Inc.

Bailard Inc. acquired a new position in shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 8,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $685,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Community Bank N.A. grew its stake in American Electric Power by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 37,177 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,019,000 after acquiring an additional 3,220 shares during the period. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in American Electric Power by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 20,110 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,633,000 after acquiring an additional 561 shares during the period. Carret Asset Management LLC grew its stake in American Electric Power by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Carret Asset Management LLC now owns 60,446 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,909,000 after acquiring an additional 1,372 shares during the period. Bfsg LLC acquired a new position in American Electric Power in the fourth quarter valued at about $172,000. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd grew its stake in American Electric Power by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 4,621 shares of the company’s stock valued at $374,000 after acquiring an additional 567 shares during the period. 75.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on American Electric Power from $87.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Barclays boosted their target price on American Electric Power from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. StockNews.com cut American Electric Power from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH lowered American Electric Power from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their price target for the company from $75.50 to $73.00 in a report on Friday, March 8th. Finally, Cfra restated a “buy” rating and issued a $92.00 price target (up from $90.00) on shares of American Electric Power in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Electric Power has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.08.

American Electric Power Stock Performance

AEP opened at $85.26 on Friday. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a 52-week low of $69.38 and a 52-week high of $93.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.90 billion, a PE ratio of 20.06, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.53. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $83.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $80.42.

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). American Electric Power had a return on equity of 11.04% and a net margin of 11.64%. The company had revenue of $4.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.05 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Electric Power Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.88 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.13%. American Electric Power’s payout ratio is presently 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.