American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Analyst consensus: 23 firms rate AEP a "Moderate Buy" (13 buys, 9 holds, 1 strong buy) with an average 1-year price target of about $138.18.
• Earnings and guidance: AEP beat Q results (EPS $1.19 vs. $1.15 consensus; revenue $5.32B vs. $5.07B) and set FY2026 guidance of $6.15–$6.45 EPS (sell-side average ~$6.34).
• Insider and institutional activity: Two EVPs sold shares in February (reducing their stakes by ~8%); insiders own 0.05% while institutional investors hold 75.24% of the stock, with Vanguard, State Street and Morgan Stanley increasing positions.

American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty-three ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $138.1818.

AEP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $137.00 to $136.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Seaport Research Partners raised shares of American Electric Power from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $145.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $141.00 to $138.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of American Electric Power from $139.00 to $141.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of American Electric Power from $137.00 to $141.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 20th.

Insider Activity

In other American Electric Power news, EVP Kelly J. Ferneau sold 1,351 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.46, for a total transaction of $177,602.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 15,410 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,025,798.60. This represents a 8.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Phillip R. Ulrich sold 4,106 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.08, for a total transaction of $542,320.48. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 42,263 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,582,097.04. This trade represents a 8.86% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.05% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AEP. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,496,895 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,053,417,000 after acquiring an additional 828,588 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,437,776 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,509,780,000 after acquiring an additional 1,514,865 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 14,661,858 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,690,659,000 after acquiring an additional 271,879 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,823,744 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,587,841,000 after acquiring an additional 83,285 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 10,626,841 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,225,381,000 after acquiring an additional 57,807 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.24% of the company's stock.

American Electric Power Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of American Electric Power stock opened at $134.73 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $73.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.11, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.45. The company has a fifty day moving average of $132.02 and a 200 day moving average of $123.24. American Electric Power has a fifty-two week low of $97.46 and a fifty-two week high of $137.74.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The company reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $5.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.07 billion. American Electric Power had a net margin of 16.37% and a return on equity of 10.46%. American Electric Power's quarterly revenue was up 13.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.24 EPS. American Electric Power has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.150-6.450 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that American Electric Power will post 6.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Electric Power Company Profile

American Electric Power NASDAQ: AEP is a major investor-owned electric utility headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. The company is primarily engaged in the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, operating a diverse portfolio of power plants and an extensive high-voltage transmission network. AEP serves retail customers through its regulated utility subsidiaries and provides wholesale power and grid services across multiple regional markets in the United States.

Operations span the full utility value chain: AEP owns and operates generation assets that include fossil-fuel, natural gas, nuclear and hydropower facilities, and it has been adding renewable resources to its mix.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.