AEP vs. AES, CMS, CNP, D, DUK, ED, NEE, WEC, CEG, and NGG
Should you be buying American Electric Power stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of American Electric Power include AES (AES), CMS Energy (CMS), CenterPoint Energy (CNP), Dominion Energy (D), Duke Energy (DUK), Consolidated Edison (ED), NextEra Energy (NEE), WEC Energy Group (WEC), Constellation Energy (CEG), and National Grid Transco (NGG).
American Electric Power vs. Its Competitors
American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) and AES (NYSE:AES) are both utilities companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, profitability, risk and media sentiment.
American Electric Power has a beta of 0.46, suggesting that its stock price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AES has a beta of 0.92, suggesting that its stock price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500.
American Electric Power has a net margin of 17.68% compared to AES's net margin of 8.42%. AES's return on equity of 19.02% beat American Electric Power's return on equity.
In the previous week, American Electric Power had 19 more articles in the media than AES. MarketBeat recorded 33 mentions for American Electric Power and 14 mentions for AES. American Electric Power's average media sentiment score of 1.25 beat AES's score of 0.45 indicating that American Electric Power is being referred to more favorably in the media.
75.2% of American Electric Power shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.1% of AES shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of American Electric Power shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of AES shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
American Electric Power pays an annual dividend of $3.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. AES pays an annual dividend of $0.70 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.4%. American Electric Power pays out 54.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. AES pays out 49.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. American Electric Power has increased its dividend for 15 consecutive years and AES has increased its dividend for 12 consecutive years. AES is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
American Electric Power currently has a consensus price target of $111.50, indicating a potential upside of 4.15%. AES has a consensus price target of $24.67, indicating a potential upside of 89.31%. Given AES's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe AES is more favorable than American Electric Power.
American Electric Power has higher revenue and earnings than AES. AES is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than American Electric Power, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
American Electric Power and AES tied by winning 10 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.
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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding AEP and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Skip ChartMedia Sentiment Over Time
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NASDAQ and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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This page (NASDAQ:AEP) was last updated on 9/20/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff