Meritage Portfolio Management Sells 357 Shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

Meritage Portfolio Management lowered its position in shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 60,138 shares of the company’s stock after selling 357 shares during the quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in American Electric Power were worth $4,884,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AEP. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of American Electric Power by 14.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 28,591,562 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,150,657,000 after buying an additional 3,589,451 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 13.7% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,798,204 shares of the company’s stock worth $737,021,000 after purchasing an additional 1,181,706 shares during the last quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd increased its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 70.7% during the 3rd quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd now owns 1,953,072 shares of the company’s stock worth $145,835,000 after purchasing an additional 809,067 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 18.1% during the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 4,311,429 shares of the company’s stock worth $324,304,000 after purchasing an additional 660,599 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 14,892,850 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,120,240,000 after purchasing an additional 587,145 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

American Electric Power Stock Performance

American Electric Power stock traded up $0.49 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $86.86. 3,232,043 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,767,737. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.51. The business has a 50 day moving average of $83.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $80.29. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a 12 month low of $69.38 and a 12 month high of $94.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 0.53 and a quick ratio of 0.36.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.26 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $4.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.12 billion. American Electric Power had a net margin of 11.64% and a return on equity of 11.04%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.05 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.55 earnings per share for the current year.

American Electric Power Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be given a $0.88 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.05%. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 82.82%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho lowered shares of American Electric Power from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $83.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH lowered shares of American Electric Power from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $75.50 to $73.00 in a research note on Friday, March 8th. StockNews.com lowered shares of American Electric Power from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Guggenheim lowered shares of American Electric Power from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $81.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Cfra reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $92.00 price objective (up from $90.00) on shares of American Electric Power in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Three research 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Electric Power presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.08.

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.