Headlands Technologies LLC Acquires Shares of 3,813 American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 3,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $310,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AEP. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of 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 last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in American Electric Power by 13.7% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,798,204 shares of the company’s stock worth $737,021,000 after buying an additional 1,181,706 shares during the period. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd raised its stake in American Electric Power by 70.7% during the 3rd quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd now owns 1,953,072 shares of the company’s stock worth $145,835,000 after buying an additional 809,067 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its stake in American Electric Power by 18.1% during the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 4,311,429 shares of the company’s stock worth $324,304,000 after buying an additional 660,599 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its stake in American Electric Power by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 14,892,850 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,120,240,000 after buying an additional 587,145 shares during the period. 75.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

American Electric Power Stock Performance

AEP opened at $85.26 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $83.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $80.46. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a 1 year low of $69.38 and a 1 year high of $93.56. The company has a market capitalization of $44.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.06, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 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 (NASDAQ:AEP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.26 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $4.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.12 billion. American Electric Power had a net margin of 11.64% and a return on equity of 11.04%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.05 EPS. Equities analysts expect that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Electric Power Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th will be given a $0.88 dividend. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.13%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.82%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on AEP. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH downgraded American Electric Power from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $75.50 to $73.00 in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on American Electric Power from $92.00 to $86.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Barclays raised their price objective on American Electric Power from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on American Electric Power from $87.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, Mizuho downgraded American Electric Power from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $83.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.08.

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.