American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) Short Interest Up 9.9% in September

American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,620,000 shares, an increase of 9.9% from the August 31st total of 7,840,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,800,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.1 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Electric Power

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new stake in American Electric Power during the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,246,000. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in American Electric Power in the second quarter worth about $361,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Electric Power in the 2nd quarter valued at about $12,671,000. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Electric Power in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $203,000. Finally, Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in American Electric Power during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,297,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of American Electric Power from $99.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on American Electric Power from $101.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Guggenheim increased their target price on American Electric Power from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Barclays boosted their price target on American Electric Power from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of American Electric Power from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $96.43.

American Electric Power Trading Up 0.7 %

AEP opened at $102.60 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $54.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.54. American Electric Power has a 12 month low of $69.38 and a 12 month high of $105.18. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $99.87 and a 200 day moving average of $91.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $4.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.74 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.13 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that American Electric Power will post 5.6 EPS for the current year.

American Electric Power Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th were issued a $0.88 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.43%. American Electric Power’s payout ratio is 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.