Alberta Investment Management Corp Sells 133,777 Shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

Alberta Investment Management Corp reduced its holdings in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 53.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 118,543 shares of the company’s stock after selling 133,777 shares during the period. Alberta Investment Management Corp’s holdings in American Electric Power were worth $9,628,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AEP. BLB&B Advisors LLC increased its holdings in American Electric Power by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. BLB&B Advisors LLC now owns 3,405 shares of the company’s stock valued at $277,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC increased its holdings in American Electric Power by 4.4% in the third quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 3,150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $237,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in American Electric Power by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,975 shares of the company’s stock valued at $404,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co grew its stake in American Electric Power by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 14,598 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,186,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the period. Finally, Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in American Electric Power by 3.1% in the third quarter. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,715 shares of the company’s stock valued at $355,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the period. 75.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on AEP. Barclays boosted their target price on American Electric Power from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. StockNews.com raised American Electric Power from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on American Electric Power from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on American Electric Power from $84.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on American Electric Power from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $88.64.

American Electric Power Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AEP traded up $2.09 on Friday, hitting $90.25. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,511,590 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,389,521. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $86.94 and a two-hundred day moving average of $82.87. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a one year low of $69.38 and a one year high of $93.44. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.50.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.27 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 firm had revenue of $5 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.11 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.59 earnings per share for the current year.

American Electric Power Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be issued a $0.88 dividend. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.31%.

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.