Kovack Advisors Inc. Trims Stock Position in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

Kovack Advisors Inc. cut its position in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 11.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,410 shares of the company’s stock after selling 425 shares during the quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in American Electric Power were worth $277,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in American Electric Power by 14.4% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 28,591,562 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,150,657,000 after purchasing an additional 3,589,451 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of American Electric Power by 13.7% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,798,204 shares of the company’s stock valued at $737,021,000 after buying an additional 1,181,706 shares in the last quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 70.7% during the 3rd quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd now owns 1,953,072 shares of the company’s stock worth $145,835,000 after acquiring an additional 809,067 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its position in American Electric Power by 18.1% in the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 4,311,429 shares of the company’s stock worth $324,304,000 after acquiring an additional 660,599 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its stake in American Electric Power by 4.1% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 14,892,850 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,120,240,000 after acquiring an additional 587,145 shares during the last quarter. 75.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on AEP. Scotiabank dropped their price target on American Electric Power from $92.00 to $86.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Mizuho cut American Electric Power from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $83.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Barclays upped their target price on American Electric Power from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Cfra reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $92.00 price target (up from $90.00) on shares of American Electric Power in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH lowered shares of American Electric Power from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $75.50 to $73.00 in a report on Friday, March 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Electric Power presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.08.

American Electric Power Trading Up 1.7 %

NASDAQ:AEP opened at $86.67 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49. The company has a fifty day moving average of $83.63 and a 200 day moving average of $80.59. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a 52 week low of $69.38 and a 52 week high of $93.56.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by ($0.03). American Electric Power had a net margin of 11.64% and a return on equity of 11.04%. The business had revenue of $4.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.05 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.54 earnings per share for the current year.

American Electric Power Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be issued a $0.88 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.06%. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.82%.

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.