Barclays Raises American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) Price Target to $84.00

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP - Free Report) had its target price hoisted by Barclays from $83.00 to $84.00 in a report released on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the stock.

AEP has been the subject of several other research reports. Cfra reissued a buy rating and issued a $92.00 price objective (up previously from $90.00) on shares of American Electric Power in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. StockNews.com downgraded American Electric Power from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on American Electric Power from $87.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Guggenheim downgraded American Electric Power from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $81.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, UBS Group downgraded American Electric Power from a neutral rating to a sell rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $86.00 to $83.00 in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $87.15.

American Electric Power Price Performance

AEP traded down $1.19 on Monday, hitting $80.91. 3,135,145 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,804,121. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.32, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 0.53 and a quick ratio of 0.36. American Electric Power has a 12 month low of $69.38 and a 12 month high of $94.73. The business has a 50-day moving average of $82.42 and a two-hundred day moving average of $79.77.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.26 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $4.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.12 billion. American Electric Power had a return on equity of 11.04% and a net margin of 11.64%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.05 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that American Electric Power will post 5.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Electric Power Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 9th were given a $0.88 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 8th. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.35%. American Electric Power's payout ratio is currently 82.82%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Electric Power

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in American Electric Power by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 49,225,322 shares of the company's stock worth $3,998,081,000 after purchasing an additional 425,649 shares during the period. 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 worth $2,150,657,000 after purchasing an additional 3,589,451 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in American Electric Power by 4.1% in the 3rd 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 during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in American Electric Power by 13.7% in the 3rd 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 during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in American Electric Power by 5.1% in the 3rd 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 during the period. 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.