Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC Sells 888 Shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC cut its holdings in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 18.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 4,059 shares of the company’s stock after selling 888 shares during the quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC’s holdings in American Electric Power were worth $330,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 14.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 28,591,562 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,150,657,000 after buying an additional 3,589,451 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,798,204 shares of the company’s stock worth $737,021,000 after buying an additional 1,181,706 shares during the last quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd increased its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 70.7% in the 3rd quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd now owns 1,953,072 shares of the company’s stock worth $145,835,000 after buying an additional 809,067 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 18.1% in the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 4,311,429 shares of the company’s stock worth $324,304,000 after buying an additional 660,599 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in American Electric Power by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 14,892,850 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,120,240,000 after purchasing an additional 587,145 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

American Electric Power Price Performance

Shares of AEP opened at $90.95 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $47.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.50. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a twelve month low of $69.38 and a twelve month high of $92.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The company has a 50 day moving average of $84.52 and a two-hundred day moving average of $81.22.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $5 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.02 billion. American Electric Power had a net margin of 14.60% and a return on equity of 11.23%. American Electric Power’s revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.11 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Electric Power Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.88 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.87%. American Electric Power’s payout ratio is currently 65.31%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Scotiabank increased their price target on American Electric Power from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. StockNews.com raised shares of American Electric Power from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Cfra reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $92.00 target price (up from $90.00) on shares of American Electric Power in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH lowered shares of American Electric Power from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $75.50 to $73.00 in a research report on Friday, March 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $88.14.

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.