Heathbridge Capital Management Ltd. Purchases 123,000 Shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

Heathbridge Capital Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 3,967.7% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 126,100 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 123,000 shares during the period. American Electric Power makes up approximately 4.6% of Heathbridge Capital Management Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. Heathbridge Capital Management Ltd.’s holdings in American Electric Power were worth $10,618,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AEP. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in American Electric Power by 2,331.2% in the second quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,650,830 shares of the company’s stock valued at $307,398,000 after purchasing an additional 3,500,662 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in American Electric Power by 99,268.2% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,804,171 shares of the company’s stock valued at $266,256,000 after acquiring an additional 2,801,349 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in American Electric Power by 23.7% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,357,327 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,268,278,000 after acquiring an additional 2,560,192 shares during the period. Providence Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in American Electric Power by 9,188.9% in the 1st quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,376,834 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,121,000 after acquiring an additional 2,351,246 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in American Electric Power by 41.7% in the 2nd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 7,340,523 shares of the company’s stock valued at $618,073,000 after acquiring an additional 2,161,083 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.68% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on AEP shares. Cfra dropped their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $99.00 to $94.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 18th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on American Electric Power from $103.00 to $89.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 6th. Barclays lowered their price objective on American Electric Power from $88.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on American Electric Power from $96.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on American Electric Power from $97.00 to $93.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 25th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.37.

American Electric Power Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of AEP stock traded up $0.01 on Friday, hitting $77.39. 3,508,003 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,076,288. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $76.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $80.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.70 billion, a PE ratio of 17.75, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.49. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a twelve month low of $69.38 and a twelve month high of $100.32.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 2nd. The company reported $1.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.85 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $5.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.37 billion. American Electric Power had a net margin of 11.72% and a return on equity of 10.73%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.62 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.27 EPS for the current year.

American Electric Power Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.88 per share. This is a boost from American Electric Power’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 9th. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.55%. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 80.73%.

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.