American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) EVP Sells $1,041,277.88 in Stock

American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) EVP Quinton S. Lies sold 10,141 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.68, for a total transaction of $1,041,277.88. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,658 shares in the company, valued at $991,683.44. The trade was a 51.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

American Electric Power Stock Down 1.1%

AEP stock opened at $101.80 on Friday. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a twelve month low of $85.93 and a twelve month high of $110.48. The company has a market cap of $54.38 billion, a PE ratio of 18.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.45. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $105.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $100.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $1.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.14. American Electric Power had a return on equity of 11.27% and a net margin of 15.08%. The business had revenue of $5.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.33 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.27 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

American Electric Power Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 9th will be given a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.65%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 9th. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on AEP. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $111.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Barclays increased their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $95.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Citigroup raised their price target on American Electric Power from $102.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Bank of America raised their price target on American Electric Power from $108.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price target on American Electric Power from $109.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $105.69.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in American Electric Power by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,269,781 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,711,519,000 after purchasing an additional 579,175 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in American Electric Power by 24.3% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 22,102,537 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,415,144,000 after purchasing an additional 4,323,569 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC lifted its stake in American Electric Power by 30.4% during the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 19,631,466 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,145,130,000 after purchasing an additional 4,570,941 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in American Electric Power by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,808,003 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,178,174,000 after purchasing an additional 283,311 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in American Electric Power by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,603,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $793,510,000 after purchasing an additional 716,229 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.