Howe & Rusling Inc. Sells 716 Shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

Howe & Rusling Inc. cut its stake in shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 13.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 4,778 shares of the company’s stock after selling 716 shares during the period. Howe & Rusling Inc.’s holdings in American Electric Power were worth $441,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AEP. SouthState Corp increased its holdings in American Electric Power by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 6,611 shares of the company’s stock valued at $610,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. PSI Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 10.6% during the fourth quarter. PSI Advisors LLC now owns 1,113 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,105 shares of the company’s stock worth $286,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Albion Financial Group UT raised its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 12,132 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,119,000 after buying an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in American Electric Power by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 1,112 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,000 after buying an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of American Electric Power from $108.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Guggenheim upgraded shares of American Electric Power from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on American Electric Power from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Scotiabank lowered American Electric Power from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $105.00 to $102.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on American Electric Power from $107.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $100.77.

American Electric Power Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AEP opened at $105.15 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $102.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $99.13. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $79.16 and a fifty-two week high of $109.52. The company has a market capitalization of $56.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.50. 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 posted its earnings results 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 net margin of 15.08% and a return on equity of 11.27%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.23 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

American Electric Power Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.54%. American Electric Power’s payout ratio is 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.