American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) Stock Holdings Cut by SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC

SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC cut its position in shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 3.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 13,497 shares of the company’s stock after selling 543 shares during the period. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in American Electric Power were worth $1,135,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in American Electric Power by 14.4% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 28,591,562 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,150,657,000 after acquiring an additional 3,589,451 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in American Electric Power by 2,331.2% during the second quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,650,830 shares of the company’s stock valued at $307,398,000 after purchasing an additional 3,500,662 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in American Electric Power by 99,268.2% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,804,171 shares of the company’s stock worth $266,256,000 after buying an additional 2,801,349 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its position in American Electric Power by 23.7% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,357,327 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,268,278,000 after buying an additional 2,560,192 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 41.7% in the second quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 7,340,523 shares of the company’s stock valued at $618,073,000 after buying an additional 2,161,083 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AEP shares. UBS Group lowered American Electric Power from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $86.00 to $83.00 in a research report on Monday, March 11th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of American Electric Power from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Cfra restated a “buy” rating and issued a $92.00 price target (up previously from $90.00) on shares of American Electric Power in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $83.00 price objective (down previously from $84.00) on shares of American Electric Power in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, Mizuho downgraded shares of American Electric Power from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $83.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Electric Power currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $87.08.

American Electric Power Stock Performance

AEP stock traded up $1.30 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $86.10. The stock had a trading volume of 3,077,284 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,406,437. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $69.38 and a fifty-two week high of $96.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 0.53 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.34 billion, a PE ratio of 20.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.51. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $81.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $79.36.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $4.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.12 billion. American Electric Power had a net margin of 11.64% and a return on equity of 11.04%. The firm’s revenue was down 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.05 EPS. Analysts predict that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Electric Power Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Investors of record on Friday, February 9th were issued a dividend of $0.88 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 8th. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.09%. American Electric Power’s payout ratio is currently 82.82%.

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.