Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. Sells 392 Shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. reduced its stake in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 0.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 238,110 shares of the company’s stock after selling 392 shares during the quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.’s holdings in American Electric Power were worth $21,961,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of American Electric Power by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,902,755 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,760,223,000 after purchasing an additional 1,114,954 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of American Electric Power by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,524,692 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,280,655,000 after purchasing an additional 352,588 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of American Electric Power by 18.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,866,952 shares of the company’s stock valued at $704,549,000 after purchasing an additional 1,087,163 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in American Electric Power by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 4,644,349 shares of the company’s stock worth $427,009,000 after buying an additional 100,578 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in American Electric Power by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,844,201 shares of the company’s stock worth $354,551,000 after buying an additional 84,704 shares during the last quarter. 75.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AEP has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America raised shares of American Electric Power from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $98.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of American Electric Power from $91.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Scotiabank lowered shares of American Electric Power from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $105.00 to $102.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. 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 report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of American Electric Power from $100.00 to $99.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $98.46.

American Electric Power Price Performance

NASDAQ:AEP opened at $103.39 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 0.44 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market cap of $55.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $98.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $98.55. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a 1-year low of $79.16 and a 1-year high of $109.52.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.24. American Electric Power had a net margin of 15.08% and a return on equity of 11.27%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.23 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

American Electric Power Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 10th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.60%. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.43%.

About American Electric Power

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.