American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) Stake Boosted by Level Four Advisory Services LLC

Level Four Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,547 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 277 shares during the period. Level Four Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in American Electric Power were worth $1,065,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. DAVENPORT & Co LLC grew its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 57,574 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,310,000 after buying an additional 3,288 shares in the last quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC grew its position in American Electric Power by 22.4% in the fourth quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 23,916 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,206,000 after acquiring an additional 4,370 shares in the last quarter. Grove Bank & Trust raised its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 436.9% during the 4th quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 7,092 shares of the company’s stock valued at $654,000 after purchasing an additional 5,771 shares in the last quarter. J2 Capital Management Inc acquired a new stake in shares of American Electric Power in the 4th quarter valued at $419,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in American Electric Power by 3.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 640,029 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,667,000 after purchasing an additional 19,081 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AEP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Scotiabank downgraded American Electric Power from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $105.00 to $102.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on American Electric Power from $107.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Guggenheim raised shares of American Electric Power from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $102.00 target price (down from $109.00) on shares of American Electric Power in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $108.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.77.

American Electric Power Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of AEP stock opened at $106.96 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.44. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $102.78 and a 200-day moving average of $99.12. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a 52-week low of $79.16 and a 52-week high of $109.52. The stock has a market cap of $57.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.50.

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

American Electric Power Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 66.43%.

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.