Wells Fargo & Company MN Sells 118,671 Shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

Wells Fargo & Company MN lessened its stake in shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,325,811 shares of the company’s stock after selling 118,671 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN owned about 0.81% of American Electric Power worth $398,970,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AEP. Quarry LP bought a new position in American Electric Power in the 3rd quarter worth $155,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 16.4% in the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 70,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,264,000 after purchasing an additional 9,985 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of American Electric Power by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 898,732 shares of the company’s stock worth $92,213,000 after purchasing an additional 18,135 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in American Electric Power by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,902,755 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,760,223,000 after purchasing an additional 1,114,954 shares during the period. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC grew its holdings in American Electric Power by 191.4% in the 3rd quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 89,690 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,202,000 after buying an additional 58,916 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AEP. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on American Electric Power from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of American Electric Power from $107.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $102.00 price target (down from $109.00) on shares of American Electric Power in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim raised shares of American Electric Power from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank downgraded American Electric Power from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $105.00 to $102.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Electric Power currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $100.77.

American Electric Power Price Performance

American Electric Power stock opened at $104.48 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $103.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $99.29. 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 company has a market capitalization of $55.76 billion, a PE ratio of 18.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.43. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a one year low of $79.16 and a one year high of $110.48.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $1.24 earnings per share (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 quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.23 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Electric Power Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.56%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. American Electric Power’s payout ratio is 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.