American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) Price Target Lowered to $94.00 at Morgan Stanley

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) had its price objective reduced by Morgan Stanley from $98.00 to $94.00 in a report released on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective points to a potential upside of 6.96% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on AEP. UBS Group lowered American Electric Power from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $86.00 to $83.00 in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on American Electric Power from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded American Electric Power from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on American Electric Power from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on American Electric Power from $84.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $88.62.

American Electric Power Stock Performance

AEP traded up $0.83 during trading on Monday, reaching $87.88. 305,053 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,408,469. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. American Electric Power has a 52 week low of $69.38 and a 52 week high of $93.44. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $88.20 and a 200 day moving average of $83.90. The stock has a market cap of $46.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.30, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.53.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.02. American Electric Power had a return on equity of 11.23% and a net margin of 14.60%. The company had revenue of $5 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.11 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that American Electric Power will post 5.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at American Electric Power

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in American Electric Power by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 49,630,436 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,273,181,000 after purchasing an additional 405,114 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in American Electric Power by 14.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 28,591,562 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,150,657,000 after purchasing an additional 3,589,451 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake 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 period. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in American Electric Power by 9.9% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 8,586,577 shares of the company’s stock valued at $739,303,000 after purchasing an additional 776,965 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in American Electric Power by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 7,714,823 shares of the company’s stock valued at $580,308,000 after purchasing an additional 374,300 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

About American Electric Power

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.