Short Interest in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) Drops By 18.0%

American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,810,000 shares, a decrease of 18.0% from the January 15th total of 9,530,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,970,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.6 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Electric Power

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Cornerstone Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Advisory LLC now owns 6,618 shares of the company's stock worth $674,000 after buying an additional 596 shares during the period. Patrick Mauro Investment Advisor INC. increased its holdings in American Electric Power by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Patrick Mauro Investment Advisor INC. now owns 66,799 shares of the company's stock worth $6,161,000 after purchasing an additional 11,120 shares during the period. McIlrath & Eck LLC increased its holdings in American Electric Power by 73.2% during the 4th quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 3,048 shares of the company's stock worth $281,000 after purchasing an additional 1,288 shares during the period. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC increased its holdings in American Electric Power by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 16,394 shares of the company's stock worth $1,512,000 after purchasing an additional 1,712 shares during the period. Finally, PharVision Advisers LLC purchased a new position in American Electric Power during the 4th quarter worth $698,000. 75.24% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AEP has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on American Electric Power from $108.00 to $100.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on American Electric Power from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays dropped their price target on American Electric Power from $100.00 to $99.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Bank of America raised American Electric Power from an "underperform" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the company from $98.00 to $104.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $102.00 price target (down from $109.00) on shares of American Electric Power in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Electric Power has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $98.00.

American Electric Power Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AEP traded up $0.90 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $102.73. The company had a trading volume of 724,158 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,257,303. The stock has a market cap of $54.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.58. American Electric Power has a one year low of $79.16 and a one year high of $105.18. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $95.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $97.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 0.57 and a quick ratio of 0.41.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 return on equity of 11.41% and a net margin of 13.48%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.23 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that American Electric Power will post 5.58 earnings per share for the current year.

American Electric Power Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be issued a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.62%. American Electric Power's payout ratio is 74.55%.

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.