Morgan Stanley Cuts American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) Price Target to $136.00

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) had its price target lowered by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $137.00 to $136.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,MarketScreener reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price points to a potential upside of 2.76% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on the company. Wolfe Research upgraded American Electric Power from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $142.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, February 13th. Truist Financial started coverage on American Electric Power in a report on Tuesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $148.00 price target for the company. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of American Electric Power from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday. Seaport Research Partners upgraded shares of American Electric Power from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $145.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $123.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, American Electric Power has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $138.32.

American Electric Power Trading Down 0.7%

NASDAQ:AEP opened at $132.35 on Tuesday. American Electric Power has a 12-month low of $97.46 and a 12-month high of $137.74. The firm has a market cap of $71.94 billion, a PE ratio of 19.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $131.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $122.84.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The company reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $5.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.07 billion. American Electric Power had a return on equity of 10.46% and a net margin of 16.37%.American Electric Power’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.24 EPS. American Electric Power has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.150-6.450 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that American Electric Power will post 6.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Kelly J. Ferneau sold 1,351 shares of American Electric Power stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.46, for a total value of $177,602.46. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 15,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,025,798.60. The trade was a 8.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Phillip R. Ulrich sold 4,106 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.08, for a total value of $542,320.48. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 42,263 shares in the company, valued at $5,582,097.04. The trade was a 8.86% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.05% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Electric Power

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in American Electric Power by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,496,895 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,053,417,000 after buying an additional 828,588 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,437,776 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,509,780,000 after acquiring an additional 1,514,865 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 14,661,858 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,690,659,000 after acquiring an additional 271,879 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in American Electric Power by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,823,744 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,587,841,000 after purchasing an additional 83,285 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its holdings in American Electric Power by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 10,626,841 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,225,381,000 after purchasing an additional 57,807 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

About American Electric Power

American Electric Power (NASDAQ: AEP) is a major investor-owned electric utility headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. The company is primarily engaged in the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, operating a diverse portfolio of power plants and an extensive high-voltage transmission network. AEP serves retail customers through its regulated utility subsidiaries and provides wholesale power and grid services across multiple regional markets in the United States.

Operations span the full utility value chain: AEP owns and operates generation assets that include fossil-fuel, natural gas, nuclear and hydropower facilities, and it has been adding renewable resources to its mix.