American Equity Investment Life Holding (NYSE:AEL) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

American Equity Investment Life Holding (NYSE:AEL) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the four ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $52.50.

AEL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of American Equity Investment Life in a research note on Monday, March 11th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of American Equity Investment Life from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Equity Investment Life

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda grew its holdings in shares of American Equity Investment Life by 300.8% in the 4th quarter. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda now owns 4,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $231,000 after purchasing an additional 3,107 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of American Equity Investment Life by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,636,001 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $481,889,000 after purchasing an additional 345,911 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of American Equity Investment Life by 13.2% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 955,925 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $53,341,000 after purchasing an additional 111,815 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of American Equity Investment Life by 69.9% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 210,509 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,746,000 after purchasing an additional 86,625 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Profund Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Equity Investment Life by 12.7% in the 4th quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 4,312 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $241,000 after purchasing an additional 485 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.98% of the company’s stock.

American Equity Investment Life Price Performance

NYSE:AEL opened at $55.10 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.75 and a beta of 0.80. American Equity Investment Life has a one year low of $36.39 and a one year high of $56.40. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $55.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.34 and a quick ratio of 0.34.

American Equity Investment Life (NYSE:AEL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.99 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $673.53 million. American Equity Investment Life had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 25.15%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 61.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.64 EPS. Analysts anticipate that American Equity Investment Life will post 7.11 earnings per share for the current year.

American Equity Investment Life Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed an annual dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a $0.38 dividend. This is a boost from American Equity Investment Life’s previous annual dividend of $0.02. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. This represents a dividend yield of 0.68%.

American Equity Investment Life Company Profile

American Equity Investment Life Holding Company, through its subsidiaries, provides life insurance products in the United States. The company issues fixed index and rate annuities, as well as single premium immediate annuities. It markets its products through independent agents, including independent marketing organizations, broker/dealers, banks, and registered investment advisors.