1,992 Shares in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) Purchased by LCM Capital Management Inc

LCM Capital Management Inc acquired a new position in shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,992 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $218,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AEP. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in American Electric Power by 51.0% during the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 6,416,474 shares of the company’s stock valued at $591,791,000 after acquiring an additional 2,165,888 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in American Electric Power by 13,499.5% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,150,215 shares of the company’s stock valued at $234,954,000 after acquiring an additional 2,134,404 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in American Electric Power by 4,567.3% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,764,677 shares of the company’s stock valued at $192,827,000 after acquiring an additional 1,726,868 shares during the period. Cohen & Steers Inc. bought a new position in American Electric Power during the fourth quarter valued at about $121,605,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in American Electric Power by 27.5% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 5,120,568 shares of the company’s stock valued at $472,270,000 after acquiring an additional 1,105,317 shares during the period. 75.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

American Electric Power Trading Up 1.3%

AEP stock opened at $115.00 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $61.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.81, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.40. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a twelve month low of $89.91 and a twelve month high of $115.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33. The business has a fifty day moving average of $104.85 and a 200-day moving average of $104.19.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $5.09 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.85 billion. American Electric Power had a return on equity of 11.55% and a net margin of 17.68%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.25 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

American Electric Power Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 8th will be given a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 8th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. American Electric Power’s payout ratio is presently 54.39%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP David Matthew Feinberg sold 8,058 shares of American Electric Power stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.74, for a total transaction of $819,820.92. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 10,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,045,276.76. The trade was a 43.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Quinton S. Lies sold 10,141 shares of American Electric Power stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.68, for a total value of $1,041,277.88. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 9,658 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $991,683.44. This trade represents a 51.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 34,314 shares of company stock valued at $3,508,293. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on AEP shares. Citigroup boosted their price target on American Electric Power from $102.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on American Electric Power from $102.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group upped their price objective on American Electric Power from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays upped their price objective on American Electric Power from $105.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on American Electric Power from $114.00 to $113.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $111.29.

American Electric Power Company 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.