First National Bank & Trust Co. of Newtown Invests $211,000 in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

First National Bank & Trust Co. of Newtown acquired a new position in shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 2,052 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $211,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AEP. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in American Electric Power by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 49,630,436 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,273,181,000 after acquiring an additional 405,114 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 9.9% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 8,586,577 shares of the company’s stock valued at $739,303,000 after purchasing an additional 776,965 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in American Electric Power by 8.1% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 4,543,771 shares of the company’s stock worth $466,191,000 after buying an additional 341,846 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in American Electric Power by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,378,543 shares of the company’s stock worth $296,433,000 after purchasing an additional 35,769 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp boosted its position in shares of American Electric Power by 542.4% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 2,282,571 shares of the company’s stock worth $193,541,000 after buying an additional 1,927,234 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

American Electric Power Price Performance

AEP stock opened at $96.33 on Friday. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a 1 year low of $74.97 and a 1 year high of $105.18. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $100.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $94.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The stock has a market cap of $51.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.55.

American Electric Power Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.93 per share. This is an increase from American Electric Power’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 70.12%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AEP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays raised their target price on American Electric Power from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $91.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on American Electric Power from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of American Electric Power from $102.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on American Electric Power from $111.00 to $104.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.27.

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.