Hartford Funds Management Co LLC Purchases 440 Shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

Hartford Funds Management Co LLC grew its position in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 7.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,011 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 440 shares during the quarter. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC’s holdings in American Electric Power were worth $488,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. BLB&B Advisors LLC raised its holdings in American Electric Power by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. BLB&B Advisors LLC now owns 3,405 shares of the company’s stock worth $277,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC increased its position in American Electric Power by 4.4% during the third quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 3,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $237,000 after buying an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co increased its position in American Electric Power by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 14,598 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,186,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. increased its position in American Electric Power by 3.1% during the third quarter. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,715 shares of the company’s stock worth $355,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nicolet Advisory Services LLC increased its position in American Electric Power by 5.0% during the third quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,996 shares of the company’s stock worth $220,000 after buying an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AEP. StockNews.com downgraded American Electric Power from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on American Electric Power from $87.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on American Electric Power from $92.00 to $86.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Guggenheim downgraded American Electric Power from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $81.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on American Electric Power from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Electric Power currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.08.

American Electric Power Stock Down 0.7 %

AEP stock traded down $0.64 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $86.03. 5,738,277 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,771,013. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $83.74 and its 200 day moving average is $80.67. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a twelve month low of $69.38 and a twelve month high of $93.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49. The firm has a market cap of $45.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.51.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by ($0.09). American Electric Power had a return on equity of 11.04% and a net margin of 11.64%. The firm had revenue of $5 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.02 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.11 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.54 EPS for the current year.

American Electric Power Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be paid a $0.88 dividend. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.82%.

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.