Wellington Shields & Co. LLC Takes $90,000 Position in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

Wellington Shields & Co. LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 1,050 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $90,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AEP. Apella Capital LLC purchased a new position in American Electric Power in the 4th quarter valued at $348,000. Hodges Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of American Electric Power in the 1st quarter worth $1,615,000. Rockline Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Electric Power in the 4th quarter worth $1,982,000. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 381.9% in the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,995,884 shares of the company’s stock worth $171,127,000 after acquiring an additional 1,581,734 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 28.1% in the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 50,434 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,096,000 after acquiring an additional 11,065 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AEP has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on American Electric Power from $98.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Scotiabank raised their target price on American Electric Power from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Barclays raised their target price on American Electric Power from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on American Electric Power from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on American Electric Power from $84.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $88.62.

American Electric Power Trading Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ AEP traded up $0.21 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $87.90. The stock had a trading volume of 456,222 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,309,431. The company has a market capitalization of $46.33 billion, a PE ratio of 16.29, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.53. 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 firm has a 50 day moving average price of $89.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $84.46. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a twelve month low of $69.38 and a twelve month high of $93.44.

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

American Electric Power Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th were given a dividend of $0.88 per share. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.00%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 9th. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.31%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Antonio P. Smyth sold 4,898 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total value of $440,820.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 6,446 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $580,140. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Greg B. Hall sold 5,880 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.25, for a total transaction of $518,910.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 6,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $563,476.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Antonio P. Smyth sold 4,898 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total value of $440,820.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 6,446 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $580,140. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.