American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) Shares Purchased by Prudential Financial Inc.

Prudential Financial Inc. raised its position in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 168.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 917,762 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 575,318 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. owned about 0.17% of American Electric Power worth $84,645,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. DAVENPORT & Co LLC boosted its stake in American Electric Power by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 57,574 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,310,000 after purchasing an additional 3,288 shares during the last quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in American Electric Power by 22.4% during the fourth quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 23,916 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,206,000 after buying an additional 4,370 shares during the last quarter. Grove Bank & Trust increased its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 436.9% in the 4th quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 7,092 shares of the company’s stock worth $654,000 after acquiring an additional 5,771 shares during the last quarter. J2 Capital Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of American Electric Power during the 4th quarter worth $419,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of American Electric Power by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 640,029 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,667,000 after acquiring an additional 19,081 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AEP has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $108.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of American Electric Power from $108.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Guggenheim upgraded American Electric Power from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays reduced their target price on American Electric Power from $100.00 to $99.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on American Electric Power from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $99.92.

American Electric Power Stock Performance

Shares of American Electric Power stock opened at $104.18 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 0.44 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $55.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.50. The business has a 50-day moving average of $102.08 and a 200 day moving average of $99.05. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a 12 month low of $79.16 and a 12 month high of $109.52.

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

American Electric Power Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. American Electric Power’s payout ratio is currently 66.43%.

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.