Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Has $2.54 Million Position in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 64.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,507 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,823 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in American Electric Power were worth $2,537,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AEP. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in American Electric Power by 51.1% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 257,372 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,582,000 after buying an additional 87,075 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 10.7% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,459,848 shares of the company’s stock worth $128,094,000 after acquiring an additional 141,556 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new stake in American Electric Power during the second quarter valued at $1,355,000. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT purchased a new position in American Electric Power in the second quarter valued at about $202,000. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its position in American Electric Power by 13.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 46,709 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,090,000 after purchasing an additional 5,498 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AEP has been the subject of several research reports. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on American Electric Power from $97.00 to $96.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and set a $102.00 price target (down previously from $109.00) on shares of American Electric Power in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of American Electric Power from $108.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $100.00 to $99.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $98.00.

American Electric Power Price Performance

Shares of American Electric Power stock opened at $97.25 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $94.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $96.77. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $75.22 and a fifty-two week high of $105.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 0.57 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The company has a market cap of $51.75 billion, a PE ratio of 19.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.56.

American Electric Power Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.83%. This is a positive change from American Electric Power’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. American Electric Power’s payout ratio is currently 74.55%.

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.