Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. Has $735,000 Stock Position in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. trimmed its position in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 12.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,379 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,200 shares during the period. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc.’s holdings in American Electric Power were worth $735,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Hodges Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in American Electric Power in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,615,000. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in American Electric Power in the first quarter valued at $1,731,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in American Electric Power by 381.9% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,995,884 shares of the company’s stock worth $171,127,000 after purchasing an additional 1,581,734 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC lifted its holdings in American Electric Power by 646.9% during the 1st quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC now owns 261,440 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,510,000 after buying an additional 226,435 shares during the period. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 21.7% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 582,692 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,170,000 after buying an additional 103,771 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Scotiabank increased their price target on American Electric Power from $99.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of American Electric Power from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on American Electric Power from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $95.15.

American Electric Power Stock Performance

Shares of AEP stock opened at $104.21 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $98.07 and a 200-day moving average of $90.67. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a one year low of $69.38 and a one year high of $105.18. The company has a market cap of $54.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.54.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.02. American Electric Power had a net margin of 13.52% and a return on equity of 11.31%. The firm had revenue of $4.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.74 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.13 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Electric Power Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 9th were given a $0.88 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.38%. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.31%.

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.