Sentry Investment Management LLC Has $219,000 Stock Holdings in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

Sentry Investment Management LLC lessened its stake in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 9.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,695 shares of the company’s stock after selling 290 shares during the quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in American Electric Power were worth $219,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AEP. Waldron Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 17.8% during the 4th quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,408 shares of the company’s stock worth $276,000 after purchasing an additional 516 shares during the last quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors increased its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 17.1% during the 4th quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 13,535 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,099,000 after purchasing an additional 1,973 shares during the last quarter. Carnegie Capital Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 25.5% during the 4th quarter. Carnegie Capital Asset Management LLC now owns 4,933 shares of the company’s stock worth $401,000 after purchasing an additional 1,002 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 1,367,201 shares of the company’s stock worth $111,044,000 after purchasing an additional 11,593 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Altus Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC now owns 16,966 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,378,000 after purchasing an additional 1,827 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on AEP shares. Mizuho lowered shares of American Electric Power from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $83.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Cfra reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $92.00 price objective (up from $90.00) on shares of American Electric Power in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. UBS Group downgraded shares of 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. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of American Electric Power from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Guggenheim downgraded 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 report on Monday, January 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $87.15.

American Electric Power Stock Performance

NASDAQ AEP opened at $79.51 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 0.53 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.51. The company’s fifty day moving average is $82.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $79.85. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a 52-week low of $69.38 and a 52-week high of $94.73.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $4.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.12 billion. American Electric Power had a return on equity of 11.04% and a net margin of 11.64%. American Electric Power’s revenue was down 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.05 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.54 EPS for the current year.

American Electric Power Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Investors of record on Friday, February 9th were issued a dividend of $0.88 per share. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.43%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 8th. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.