California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 54,751 Shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

California Public Employees Retirement System lowered its stake in shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,123,938 shares of the company’s stock after selling 54,751 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in American Electric Power were worth $253,726,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of American Electric Power by 222.0% in the third quarter. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 351 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 242 shares during the period. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in American Electric Power in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. GoalVest Advisory LLC lifted its position in American Electric Power by 304.8% in the fourth quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 425 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the period. JNBA Financial Advisors lifted its position in American Electric Power by 91.6% in the third quarter. JNBA Financial Advisors now owns 479 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares during the period. Finally, Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in American Electric Power in the third quarter worth $36,000. Institutional investors own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

American Electric Power Trading Up 0.6 %

American Electric Power stock traded up $0.49 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $85.39. The stock had a trading volume of 339,675 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,731,098. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $83.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $80.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.97 billion, a PE ratio of 19.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.51. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a 12 month low of $69.38 and a 12 month high of $94.73. The company has a current ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on AEP. Cfra reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $92.00 target price (up from $90.00) on shares of American Electric Power in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Mizuho lowered American Electric Power from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $83.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. StockNews.com lowered American Electric Power from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH lowered American Electric Power from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $75.50 to $73.00 in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on American Electric Power from $87.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.08.

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.