Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc Trims Holdings in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc reduced its stake in shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 5.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 95,886 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,400 shares during the period. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc’s holdings in American Electric Power were worth $8,860,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AEP. XML Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 3.8% during the third quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 2,921 shares of the company’s stock valued at $300,000 after buying an additional 106 shares during the period. PSI Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 10.6% during the fourth quarter. PSI Advisors LLC now owns 1,113 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,000 after buying an additional 107 shares during the period. Garrison Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 0.6% during the third quarter. Garrison Asset Management LLC now owns 19,009 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,950,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the period. Roanoke Asset Management Corp NY increased its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 2.2% during the third quarter. Roanoke Asset Management Corp NY now owns 5,025 shares of the company’s stock valued at $516,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the period. Finally, Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,105 shares of the company’s stock valued at $286,000 after buying an additional 112 shares during the period. 75.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Electric Power Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AEP opened at $105.33 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.44. The company has a market cap of $56.16 billion, a PE ratio of 18.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.58. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $96.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $98.08. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $79.16 and a fifty-two week high of $105.73.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $1.24 earnings per share 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. As a group, equities analysts expect that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.87 EPS 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 issued a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.43%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on AEP shares. Guggenheim upgraded American Electric Power from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Bank of America upgraded American Electric Power from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $98.00 to $104.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Scotiabank lowered American Electric Power from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $105.00 to $102.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $102.00 target price (down previously from $109.00) on shares of American Electric Power in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on American Electric Power from $100.00 to $99.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. One research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Electric Power presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $98.00.

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.