Barclays Boosts American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) Price Target to $84.00

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) had its price target raised by Barclays from $83.00 to $84.00 in a research note published on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. UBS Group lowered American Electric Power from a neutral rating to a sell rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $86.00 to $83.00 in a report on Monday, March 11th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH cut American Electric Power from a neutral rating to a sell rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $75.50 to $73.00 in a research report on Friday, March 8th. Mizuho cut American Electric Power from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $83.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Guggenheim cut American Electric Power from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $81.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Cfra reiterated a buy rating and set a $92.00 target price (up previously from $90.00) on shares of American Electric Power in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Electric Power currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $86.08.

American Electric Power Stock Performance

NASDAQ AEP opened at $81.24 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49. American Electric Power has a 52-week low of $69.38 and a 52-week high of $94.73. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $82.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $79.85. The firm has a market cap of $42.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.51.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $4.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.05 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that American Electric Power will post 5.54 earnings per share for the current year.

American Electric Power Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 9th were paid a dividend of $0.88 per share. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.33%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 8th. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 82.82%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Electric Power

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AEP. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in American Electric Power by 14.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 28,591,562 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,150,657,000 after buying an additional 3,589,451 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in American Electric Power by 99,268.2% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,804,171 shares of the company’s stock valued at $266,256,000 after buying an additional 2,801,349 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in American Electric Power by 23.7% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,357,327 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,268,278,000 after buying an additional 2,560,192 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in American Electric Power in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $175,667,000. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in American Electric Power by 41.7% in the 2nd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 7,340,523 shares of the company’s stock valued at $618,073,000 after buying an additional 2,161,083 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

About American Electric Power

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.