First Bank & Trust Has $2.51 Million Stock Holdings in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

First Bank & Trust cut its holdings in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 11.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 27,171 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,592 shares during the quarter. First Bank & Trust’s holdings in American Electric Power were worth $2,506,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Electric Power in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in American Electric Power in the third quarter valued at about $33,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new position in American Electric Power in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in American Electric Power in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in American Electric Power in the third quarter valued at about $48,000. 75.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on AEP. Scotiabank cut American Electric Power from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $105.00 to $102.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on American Electric Power from $97.00 to $96.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Bank of America upgraded American Electric Power from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $98.00 to $104.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on American Electric Power from $109.00 to $104.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on American Electric Power from $100.00 to $99.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.00.

American Electric Power Trading Up 0.9 %

NASDAQ:AEP opened at $103.09 on Thursday. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $79.16 and a fifty-two week high of $105.18. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $54.97 billion, a PE ratio of 18.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.58. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $96.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $97.99.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.23 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Electric Power Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 10th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th will be given a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio 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.