Sierra Summit Advisors LLC Purchases 749 Shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

Sierra Summit Advisors LLC grew its position in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 11.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,407 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 749 shares during the period. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Electric Power were worth $683,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AEP. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in American Electric Power during the fourth quarter worth about $220,983,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased 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 worth $4,767,425,000 after acquiring an additional 763,813 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in American Electric Power by 31.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,075,032 shares of the company’s stock valued at $315,498,000 after acquiring an additional 738,756 shares during the period. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd boosted its position in American Electric Power by 94.5% during the fourth quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd now owns 1,386,375 shares of the company’s stock worth $127,876,000 after purchasing an additional 673,644 shares during the period. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 168.0% in the fourth quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 917,762 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,645,000 after purchasing an additional 575,318 shares during the last quarter. 75.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $107.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on American Electric Power from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim upgraded American Electric Power from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Bank of America boosted their price target on American Electric Power from $108.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Scotiabank downgraded American Electric Power from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $105.00 to $102.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Electric Power presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $100.77.

American Electric Power Stock Down 4.2 %

NASDAQ AEP opened at $104.48 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $103.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $99.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $55.76 billion, a PE ratio of 18.66, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.43. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $79.16 and a fifty-two week high of $110.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 0.44 and a quick ratio of 0.31.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.24. American Electric Power had a return on equity of 11.27% and a net margin of 15.08%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.23 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Electric Power Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.56%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.43%.

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.