American Electric Power Company, Inc. (AEP) To Go Ex-Dividend on May 9th

American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, April 23rd, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be paid a dividend of 0.88 per share on Monday, June 10th. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th.

American Electric Power has raised its dividend payment by an average of 5.9% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 14 years. American Electric Power has a dividend payout ratio of 59.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect American Electric Power to earn $5.92 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.52 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 59.5%.

American Electric Power Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AEP opened at $86.37 on Thursday. American Electric Power has a 12-month low of $69.38 and a 12-month high of $94.73. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $83.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $80.29. The company has a market capitalization of $45.48 billion, a PE ratio of 20.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.51. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $1.23 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $4.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.05 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that American Electric Power will post 5.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Guggenheim downgraded American Electric Power from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $81.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. UBS Group downgraded American Electric Power from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $86.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Monday, March 11th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price 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. Cfra reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $92.00 price target (up previously from $90.00) on shares of American Electric Power in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, Mizuho cut American Electric Power from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $83.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.