Proficio Capital Partners LLC Takes $149,000 Position in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 148,859 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $149,000.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in American Electric Power by 109.5% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,753,250 shares of the company's stock valued at $385,079,000 after purchasing an additional 1,962,125 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of American Electric Power by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,902,755 shares of the company's stock worth $2,760,223,000 after buying an additional 1,114,954 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 18.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,866,952 shares of the company's stock valued at $704,549,000 after acquiring an additional 1,087,163 shares during the last quarter. Zacks Investment Management acquired a new stake in shares of American Electric Power in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $80,207,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in American Electric Power by 31.6% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,075,032 shares of the company's stock worth $315,498,000 after acquiring an additional 738,756 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.24% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

American Electric Power Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of AEP traded down $0.62 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $107.75. 3,277,747 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,066,647. 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 Company, Inc. has a 52 week low of $79.16 and a 52 week high of $109.76. The company has a market cap of $57.51 billion, a PE ratio of 19.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $103.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $99.23.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates 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 in the prior year, the company earned $1.23 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.45%. American Electric Power's dividend payout ratio is 66.43%.

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.