American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) Reaches New 12-Month High – Here’s What Happened

American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)’s share price reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $115.29 and last traded at $115.00, with a volume of 3600829 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $113.58.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AEP has been the topic of several analyst reports. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $102.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $102.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $105.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $107.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $111.29.

American Electric Power Price Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average is $104.85 and its 200 day moving average is $104.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $61.50 billion, a PE ratio of 16.81, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $5.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.85 billion. American Electric Power had a net margin of 17.68% and a return on equity of 11.55%. The company’s revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.25 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

American Electric Power Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 8th will be paid a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 8th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. American Electric Power’s payout ratio is 54.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Electric Power news, EVP David Matthew Feinberg sold 8,058 shares of American Electric Power stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.74, for a total value of $819,820.92. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 10,274 shares in the company, valued at $1,045,276.76. The trade was a 43.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Quinton S. Lies sold 10,141 shares of American Electric Power stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.68, for a total transaction of $1,041,277.88. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 9,658 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $991,683.44. This trade represents a 51.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 34,314 shares of company stock valued at $3,508,293 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of American Electric Power

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,269,781 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,711,519,000 after buying an additional 579,175 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in American Electric Power by 24.3% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 22,102,537 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,415,144,000 after acquiring an additional 4,323,569 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC increased its position in American Electric Power by 30.4% during the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 19,631,466 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,145,130,000 after acquiring an additional 4,570,941 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in American Electric Power by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,603,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $793,510,000 after acquiring an additional 716,229 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in American Electric Power by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 7,047,428 shares of the company’s stock worth $649,983,000 after acquiring an additional 85,756 shares during the period. 75.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.