With a market cap of $64.1 billion, American Electric Power Company, Inc. (AEP) is a U.S.-based electric public utility holding company that generates, transmits, and distributes electricity to retail and wholesale customers across the country. It serves about 5.6 million customers through an extensive network of generation assets and more than 265,000 circuit miles of transmission and distribution lines.
Shares of the Columbus, Ohio-based company have exceeded the broader market over the past 52 weeks. AEP stock has soared 22.6% over this time frame, while the broader S&P 500 Index ($SPX) has rallied nearly 14%. Moreover, shares of the company are up 4.1% on a YTD basis, compared to SPX's marginal rise.
Looking closer, shares of the utility company have also outpaced the State Street Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF's (XLU) 11% return over the past 52 weeks.
Despite reporting weaker-than-expected Q3 2025 adjusted EPS of $1.80, shares of AEP climbed 6.1% on Oct. 29, 2025, after the company announced a sharply expanded $72 billion five-year capital plan supported by 28 GW of new customer-backed load and projected 10% annual rate base growth to $128 billion by 2030. Investors were encouraged by AEP’s new 7% - 9% long-term operating earnings growth target through 2030 and management’s outlook for 2026 operating EPS of $6.15 - $6.45. The stock was further supported by strong quarterly revenue of $6.01 billion, which topped Wall Street forecasts.
For the fiscal year that ended in December 2025, analysts expect AEP's adjusted EPS to grow nearly 5% year-over-year to $5.90. The company's earnings surprise history is promising. It beat or met the consensus estimates in three of the last four quarters while missing on another occasion.
Among the 22 analysts covering the stock, the consensus rating is a “Moderate Buy.” That’s based on seven “Strong Buy” ratings, one “Moderate Buy,” 13 “Holds,” and one “Strong Sell.”
On Feb. 3, Morgan Stanley analyst David Arcaro reaffirmed a “Buy” rating on American Electric Power and set a price target of $125.
The mean price target of $128.85 represents a premium of 7.4% to AEP's current levels. The Street-high price target of $140 implies a potential upside of 16.7% from the current price levels.
On the date of publication, Sohini Mondal did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.
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