Scotiabank Increases American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) Price Target to $90.00

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) had its target price lifted by Scotiabank from $86.00 to $90.00 in a research note released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a sector outperform rating on the stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on AEP. Barclays upped their price target 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 reissued a buy rating and issued a $92.00 price target (up previously from $90.00) on shares of American Electric Power in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. UBS Group lowered shares of American Electric Power from a neutral rating to a sell rating and decreased their price target for the company from $86.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Guggenheim lowered shares of American Electric Power from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $81.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Mizuho downgraded shares of American Electric Power from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $83.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, American Electric Power currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $88.14.

American Electric Power Price Performance

AEP stock opened at $88.60 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The firm has a market cap of $46.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.35, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.50. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $83.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $80.77. American Electric Power has a 12-month low of $69.38 and a 12-month high of $92.88.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.02. American Electric Power had a net margin of 14.60% and a return on equity of 11.23%. The company had revenue of $5 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.11 EPS. American Electric Power’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that American Electric Power will post 5.58 earnings per share for the current year.

American Electric Power Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be given a dividend of $0.88 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.97%. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.31%.

Institutional Trading of American Electric Power

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 308,763 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,225,000 after purchasing an additional 14,593 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its position in American Electric Power by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 128,825 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,690,000 after purchasing an additional 1,406 shares during the last quarter. Xponance Inc. raised its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 2.0% during the third quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 64,484 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,850,000 after acquiring an additional 1,269 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in American Electric Power by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,199,436 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,222,000 after purchasing an additional 30,336 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. boosted its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 13.7% during the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 23,718 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,784,000 after purchasing an additional 2,856 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

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.