Enhancing Capital LLC Buys Shares of 30,300 American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

Enhancing Capital LLC bought a new stake in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 30,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,795,000. American Electric Power accounts for about 2.2% of Enhancing Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AEP. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,902,755 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,760,223,000 after buying an additional 1,114,954 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,524,692 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,280,655,000 after buying an additional 352,588 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 18.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,866,952 shares of the company’s stock valued at $704,549,000 after buying an additional 1,087,163 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 4,644,349 shares of the company’s stock valued at $427,009,000 after buying an additional 100,578 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,844,201 shares of the company’s stock valued at $354,551,000 after buying an additional 84,704 shares during the period. 75.24% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Scotiabank cut American Electric Power from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $105.00 to $102.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim raised American Electric Power from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays reduced their price objective on American Electric Power from $100.00 to $99.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $102.00 price objective (down from $109.00) on shares of American Electric Power in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on American Electric Power from $109.00 to $104.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $98.46.

American Electric Power Stock Performance

NASDAQ AEP opened at $105.86 on Tuesday. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $79.16 and a fifty-two week high of $109.52. The stock has a market cap of $56.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.50. The business has a fifty day moving average of $100.80 and a 200-day moving average of $98.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $1.24 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.24. American Electric Power had a return on equity of 11.27% and a net margin of 15.08%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.23 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Electric Power Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.43%.

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.