Wells Fargo & Company Boosts American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) Price Target to $89.00

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) had its price objective increased by Wells Fargo & Company from $84.00 to $89.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Barclays upped their price target on shares of American Electric Power from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Scotiabank reduced their target price on American Electric Power from $92.00 to $86.00 and set a sector outperform rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 22nd. StockNews.com lowered American Electric Power from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH lowered American Electric Power from a neutral rating to a sell rating and dropped their price target for the company from $75.50 to $73.00 in a research report on Friday, March 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of American Electric Power from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $88.14.

American Electric Power Stock Performance

Shares of AEP stock opened at $88.60 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $84.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $80.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.50. American Electric Power has a 12 month low of $69.38 and a 12 month high of $92.88.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.27 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.02. American Electric Power had a return on equity of 11.23% and a net margin of 14.60%. The business had revenue of $5 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.11 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that American Electric Power will post 5.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Electric Power Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be given a dividend of $0.88 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.97%. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.31%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AEP. Apella Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Electric Power during the 4th quarter valued at $348,000. Rockline Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in American Electric Power during the fourth quarter worth about $1,982,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in American Electric Power by 28.1% in the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 50,434 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,096,000 after acquiring an additional 11,065 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in American Electric Power by 1,592.1% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 414,150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,612,000 after acquiring an additional 389,675 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AJOVista LLC bought a new position in shares of American Electric Power during the 4th quarter valued at about $140,000. 75.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

American Electric Power Company 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.