Agate Pass Investment Management LLC Decreases Stake in American Electric Power Company, Inc. $AEP

Key Points

• Agate Pass Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in American Electric Power Company by 48.6%, now holding 3,985 shares valued at $413,000.
• Vanguard Group Inc. and others increased their stakes in American Electric Power during the first quarter, indicating strong institutional interest with 75.24% of the stock owned by institutional investors.
• Analysts have set new price targets for American Electric Power, with Barclays increasing their target from $105 to $111 while overall ratings suggest a majority hold stance.

Agate Pass Investment Management LLC cut its stake in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP - Free Report) by 48.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,985 shares of the company's stock after selling 3,775 shares during the quarter. Agate Pass Investment Management LLC's holdings in American Electric Power were worth $413,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,269,781 shares of the company's stock worth $5,711,519,000 after acquiring an additional 579,175 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 24.3% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 22,102,537 shares of the company's stock worth $2,415,144,000 after acquiring an additional 4,323,569 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 30.4% in the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 19,631,466 shares of the company's stock worth $2,145,130,000 after acquiring an additional 4,570,941 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 8.0% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,237,782 shares of the company's stock worth $572,332,000 after acquiring an additional 386,518 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Electric Power in the 1st quarter worth $568,042,000. 75.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at American Electric Power

In other news, EVP Kelly J. Ferneau sold 1,006 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.00, for a total transaction of $112,672.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 5,676 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $635,712. The trade was a 15.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Benjamin G. S. Fowke III sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.65, for a total value of $543,250.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 40,898 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,443,567.70. This represents a 10.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.07% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on AEP shares. Barclays raised their target price on American Electric Power from $105.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on American Electric Power from $117.00 to $115.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Mizuho cut their price objective on American Electric Power from $116.00 to $113.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on American Electric Power from $102.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on American Electric Power from $110.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $114.50.

American Electric Power Stock Performance

Shares of American Electric Power stock opened at $117.04 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $111.44 and a 200 day moving average of $107.13. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a 12 month low of $89.91 and a 12 month high of $119.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $62.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.41.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.16. American Electric Power had a return on equity of 11.55% and a net margin of 17.68%.The company had revenue of $5.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.85 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.25 EPS. American Electric Power's revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. American Electric Power has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.570-6.770 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

American Electric Power Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 8th were given a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 8th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. American Electric Power's payout ratio is currently 54.39%.

American Electric Power Profile

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.