California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 54,751 Shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

California Public Employees Retirement System trimmed its holdings in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,123,938 shares of the company’s stock after selling 54,751 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.59% of American Electric Power worth $253,726,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Apella Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Electric Power during the 4th quarter valued at $348,000. Rockline Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of American Electric Power in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,982,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in American Electric Power by 28.1% during the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 50,434 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,096,000 after purchasing an additional 11,065 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in American Electric Power by 1,592.1% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 414,150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,612,000 after purchasing an additional 389,675 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of American Electric Power by 26.0% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,531,672 shares of the company’s stock worth $190,432,000 after acquiring an additional 522,608 shares in the last quarter. 75.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on AEP shares. Scotiabank lowered their price target on American Electric Power from $92.00 to $86.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Cfra reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $92.00 target price (up from $90.00) on shares of American Electric Power in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Guggenheim lowered shares of American Electric Power from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $81.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, January 22nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of American Electric Power from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Mizuho lowered shares of American Electric Power from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $83.00 target price for the company. in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.08.

American Electric Power Price Performance

American Electric Power stock traded up $0.49 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $85.39. The stock had a trading volume of 339,675 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,731,098. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $83.05 and its 200 day moving average is $80.15. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a one year low of $69.38 and a one year high of $94.73.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $1.23 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $5.12 billion. American Electric Power had a return on equity of 11.04% and a net margin of 11.64%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.05 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.