How to buy American Electric Power Company stock | $91.28

American Electric Power Company, Inc is an utilities-regulated electric business based in the US. American Electric Power Company shares (AEP) are listed on the NASDAQ and all prices are listed in US Dollars. American Electric Power Company employs 17,408 staff and has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$14.9 billion.

How to buy shares in American Electric Power Company

1. Compare share trading platforms. If you're a beginner, look for a platform with low commissions, expert ratings and investment tools to track your portfolio. Narrow down top brands with our comparison table.
2. Open and fund your brokerage account. Complete an application with your personal and financial details, like your ID and bank information. Fund your account with a bank transfer, credit card or debit card.
3. Search for American Electric Power Company. Find the stock by name or ticker symbol: AEP. Research its history to confirm it's a solid investment against your financial goals.
4. Purchase now or later. Buy today with a market order or use a limit order to delay your purchase until American Electric Power Company reaches your desired price. To spread out your purchase, look into dollar-cost averaging, which smooths out buying at consistent intervals and amounts.
5. Decide on how many to buy. At last close price of USD$91.28, weigh your budget against a diversified portfolio that can minimize risk through the market's ups and downs. You may be able to buy a fractional share of American Electric Power Company, depending on your broker.
6. Check in on your investment. Congratulations, you own a part of American Electric Power Company. Optimize your portfolio by tracking how your stock — and even the business — performs with an eye on the long term. You may be eligible for dividends and shareholder voting rights on directors and management that can affect your stock.

American Electric Power Company share price

Use our graph to track the performance of AEP stocks over time.

American Electric Power Company shares at a glance

• Key figures

Information last updated 2020-12-27.

Latest market close	USD$91.28
52-week range	USD$63.5061 - USD$102.014
50-day moving average	USD$84.9577
200-day moving average	USD$84.2804
Wall St. target price	USD$97.24
PE ratio	21.0823
Dividend yield	USD$2.96 (3.64%)
Earnings per share (TTM)	USD$3.862

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Is it a good time to buy American Electric Power Company stock?

The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.

Technical Analysis of American Electric Power Company, Inc by TradingView

This chart is not advice or a guarantee of success. Rather, it gauges the real-time recommendations of three popular technical indicators: moving averages, oscillators and pivots. Finder is not responsible for how your stock performs.

American Electric Power Company price performance over time

Historical closes compared with the close of $91.28 from 2020-10-19

1 week (2021-01-08)	15.28%
1 month (2020-12-16)	10.20%
3 months (2020-10-16)	-0.26%
6 months (2020-07-16)	7.27%

1 year (2020-01-16)	-6.20%
2 years (2019-01-15)	21.09%
3 years (2018-01-12)	35.31%
5 years (2016-01-15)	55.53%

Is American Electric Power Company under- or over-valued?

Valuing American Electric Power Company stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of American Electric Power Company's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.

American Electric Power Company's P/E ratio

American Electric Power Company's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 21x. In other words, American Electric Power Company shares trade at around 21x recent earnings.

That's relatively low compared to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29). The low P/E ratio could mean that investors are pessimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're under-valued.

American Electric Power Company's PEG ratio

American Electric Power Company's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 2.6753. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.

The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into American Electric Power Company's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.

American Electric Power Company's EBITDA

American Electric Power Company's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is USD$5.4 billion.

The EBITDA is a measure of a American Electric Power Company's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure a its profitability.

American Electric Power Company financials

Revenue TTM	USD$14.9 billion
Operating margin TTM	20.02%
Gross profit TTM	USD$6.5 billion
Return on assets TTM	2.45%
Return on equity TTM	9.41%
Profit margin	12.85%
Book value	$41.032
Market capitalisation	USD$40.4 billion

TTM: trailing 12 months

Shorting American Electric Power Company shares

There are currently 6.1 million American Electric Power Company shares held short by investors – that's known as American Electric Power Company's "short interest". This figure is 1.8% down from 6.2 million last month.

There are a few different ways that this level of interest in shorting American Electric Power Company shares can be evaluated.

American Electric Power Company's "short interest ratio" (SIR)

American Electric Power Company's "short interest ratio" (SIR) is the quantity of American Electric Power Company shares currently shorted divided by the average quantity of American Electric Power Company shares traded daily (recently around 2.9 million). American Electric Power Company's SIR currently stands at 2.07. In other words for every 100,000 American Electric Power Company shares traded daily on the market, roughly 2070 shares are currently held short.

However American Electric Power Company's short interest can also be evaluated against the total number of American Electric Power Company shares, or, against the total number of tradable American Electric Power Company shares (the shares that aren't held by "insiders" or major long-term shareholders – also known as the "float"). In this case American Electric Power Company's short interest could be expressed as 0.01% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 American Electric Power Company shares in existence, roughly 10 shares are currently held short) or 0.0123% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable American Electric Power Company shares, roughly 12 shares are currently held short).

Such a low SIR usually points to an optimistic outlook for the share price, with fewer people currently willing to bet against American Electric Power Company.

Find out more about how you can short American Electric Power Company stock.

American Electric Power Company's environmental, social and governance track record

Environmental, social and governance (known as ESG) criteria are a set of three factors used to measure the sustainability and social impact of companies like American Electric Power Company.

When it comes to ESG scores, lower is better, and lower scores are generally associated with lower risk for would-be investors.

American Electric Power Company's total ESG risk score

Total ESG risk: 33.5

Socially conscious investors use ESG scores to screen how an investment aligns with their worldview, and American Electric Power Company's overall score of 33.5 (as at 01/01/2019) is pretty weak – landing it in it in the 73rd percentile of companies rated in the same sector.

ESG scores are increasingly used to estimate the level of risk a company like American Electric Power Company is exposed to within the areas of "environmental" (carbon footprint, resource use etc.), "social" (health and safety, human rights etc.), and "governance" (anti-corruption, tax transparency etc.).

American Electric Power Company's environmental score

Environmental score: 18.83/100

American Electric Power Company's environmental score of 18.83 puts it squarely in the 1st percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that American Electric Power Company is a leader in its sector terms of its environmental impact, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

American Electric Power Company's social score

Social score: 9.53/100

American Electric Power Company's social score of 9.53 puts it squarely in the 1st percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that American Electric Power Company is a leader in its sector when it comes to taking good care of its workforce and the communities it impacts.

American Electric Power Company's governance score

Governance score: 4.15/100

American Electric Power Company's governance score puts it squarely in the 1st percentile of companies rated in the same sector. That could suggest that American Electric Power Company is a leader in its sector when it comes to responsible management and strategy, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

American Electric Power Company's controversy score

Controversy score: 2/5

ESG scores also evaluate any incidences of controversy that a company has been involved in. American Electric Power Company scored a 2 out of 5 for controversy – the second-highest score possible, reflecting that American Electric Power Company has, for the most part, managed to keep its nose clean.

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) summary

American Electric Power Company, Inc was last rated for ESG on: 2019-01-01.

Total ESG score	33.5
Total ESG percentile	72.84
Environmental score	18.83
Environmental score percentile	1
Social score	9.53
Social score percentile	1
Governance score	4.15
Governance score percentile	1
Level of controversy	2

American Electric Power Company share dividends

Dividend payout ratio: 68.11% of net profits

Recently American Electric Power Company has paid out, on average, around 68.11% of net profits as dividends. That has enabled analysts to estimate a "forward annual dividend yield" of 3.64% of the current stock value. This means that over a year, based on recent payouts (which are sadly no guarantee of future payouts), American Electric Power Company shareholders could enjoy a 3.64% return on their shares, in the form of dividend payments. In American Electric Power Company's case, that would currently equate to about $2.96 per share.

American Electric Power Company's payout ratio would broadly be considered high, and as such this stock could appeal to those looking to generate an income. Bear in mind however that companies should normally also look to re-invest a decent amount of net profits to ensure future growth.

American Electric Power Company's most recent dividend payout was on 10 December 2020. The latest dividend was paid out to all shareholders who bought their shares by 9 November 2020 (the "ex-dividend date").

American Electric Power Company share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, American Electric Power Company's shares have ranged in value from as little as $63.5061 up to $102.014. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".

Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NASDAQ average) beta is 1, while American Electric Power Company's is 0.2126. This would suggest that American Electric Power Company's shares are less volatile than average (for this exchange).

American Electric Power Company overview

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. The company generates electricity using coal and lignite, natural gas, nuclear, and hydroelectric, as well as solar, wind, and other energy sources. It also supplies and markets electric power at wholesale to other electric utility companies, rural electric cooperatives, municipalities, and other market participants. The company owns, leases, or controls approximately 4,004 railcars, 468 barges, 8 towboats, and a coal handling terminal with approximately 18 million tons of annual capacity. American Electric Power Company, Inc. was founded in 1906 and is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.

Frequently asked questions

• What percentage of American Electric Power Company is owned by insiders or institutions?

  Currently 0.01% of American Electric Power Company shares are held by insiders and 76.824% by institutions.

• How many people work for American Electric Power Company?

  Latest data suggests 17,408 work at American Electric Power Company.

• When does the fiscal year end for American Electric Power Company?

  American Electric Power Company's fiscal year ends in December.

• Where is American Electric Power Company based?

  American Electric Power Company's address is: 1 Riverside Plaza, Columbus, OH, United States, 43215-2373

• What is American Electric Power Company's ISIN number?

  American Electric Power Company's international securities identification number is: US0255371017

• What is American Electric Power Company's CUSIP number?

  American Electric Power Company's Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures number is: 025537101