Scissortail Wealth Management LLC Makes New Investment in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

Scissortail Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 4,635 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $363,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in American Electric Power by 2.0% in the first quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC now owns 6,010 shares of the company’s stock worth $592,000 after buying an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in American Electric Power by 0.4% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 28,284 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,445,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares during the period. BLB&B Advisors LLC lifted its stake in American Electric Power by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. BLB&B Advisors LLC now owns 3,405 shares of the company’s stock worth $277,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the period. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC lifted its stake in American Electric Power by 4.4% in the third quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 3,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $237,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Advocates Investment Management lifted its stake in American Electric Power by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 4,939 shares of the company’s stock worth $469,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on AEP. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on American Electric Power from $87.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. UBS Group downgraded American Electric Power from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $86.00 to $83.00 in a report on Monday, March 11th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH downgraded American Electric Power from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $75.50 to $73.00 in a report on Friday, March 8th. Barclays increased their price objective on American Electric Power from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Cfra reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $92.00 price objective (up previously from $90.00) on shares of American Electric Power in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $87.15.

American Electric Power Stock Performance

NASDAQ AEP traded up $0.88 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $80.39. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 170,576 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,746,380. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a 12 month low of $69.38 and a 12 month high of $94.73. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $82.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $79.85. The company has a market cap of $42.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.51. 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 released 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). American Electric Power had a return on equity of 11.04% and a net margin of 11.64%. The business had revenue of $4.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.05 earnings per share. American Electric Power’s quarterly revenue was down 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Electric Power Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Investors of record on Friday, February 9th were issued a $0.88 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 8th. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.38%. American Electric Power’s payout ratio is 82.82%.

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.