Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC Sells 888 Shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC decreased its stake in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 18.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,059 shares of the company’s stock after selling 888 shares during the quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC’s holdings in American Electric Power were worth $330,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in American Electric Power by 14.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 28,591,562 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,150,657,000 after buying an additional 3,589,451 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted 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 worth $1,120,240,000 after purchasing an additional 587,145 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in American Electric Power by 13.7% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,798,204 shares of the company’s stock worth $737,021,000 after purchasing an additional 1,181,706 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in American Electric Power by 5.1% in the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 7,714,823 shares of the company’s stock worth $580,308,000 after purchasing an additional 374,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 660,599 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AEP has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Mizuho lowered American Electric Power from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $83.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Barclays upped their price target on American Electric Power from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on American Electric Power from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Scotiabank upped their price target on American Electric Power from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on American Electric Power from $84.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $88.14.

American Electric Power Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AEP opened at $90.95 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $84.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $81.22. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a 52 week low of $69.38 and a 52 week high of $92.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.94 billion, a PE ratio of 16.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.50.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.02. American Electric Power had a return on equity of 11.23% and a net margin of 14.60%. The firm had revenue of $5 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.02 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.11 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Electric Power Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be paid 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 3.87%. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.31%.

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.