Deutsche Bank AG Purchases 139,138 Shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 16.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 998,845 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 139,138 shares during the quarter. Deutsche Bank AG owned approximately 0.19% of American Electric Power worth $92,123,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AEP. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,690,606 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,767,425,000 after purchasing an additional 763,813 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC boosted its position in American Electric Power by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 15,060,525 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,389,032,000 after buying an additional 543,054 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 valued at $1,178,174,000 after buying an additional 283,311 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,603,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $793,510,000 after buying an additional 716,229 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 27.5% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 5,120,568 shares of the company’s stock worth $472,270,000 after buying an additional 1,105,317 shares during the period. 75.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AEP. Morgan Stanley set a $114.00 target price on American Electric Power and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on American Electric Power from $107.00 to $114.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Barclays lifted 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 note on Tuesday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of American Electric Power from $111.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of American Electric Power from $102.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $105.77.

American Electric Power Stock Performance

American Electric Power stock opened at $104.68 on Monday. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $85.93 and a fifty-two week high of $110.48. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $105.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $100.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.44. The stock has a market cap of $55.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.69, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.45.

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

American Electric Power Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 9th will be given a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 9th. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.68%.

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.