Davis R M Inc. Invests $289,000 in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

Davis R M Inc. bought a new position in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 3,562 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $289,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of American Electric Power in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. GoalVest Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 304.8% in the 4th quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 425 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Electric Power in the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Northwest Financial Advisors bought a new stake in shares of American Electric Power in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Electric Power in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of American Electric Power from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on American Electric Power from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on American Electric Power from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. Barclays upped their price target on American Electric Power from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on American Electric Power from $84.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $88.43.

American Electric Power Stock Performance

AEP traded down $1.31 during trading on Thursday, reaching $90.17. 282,400 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,563,765. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a 52 week low of $69.38 and a 52 week high of $93.44. The stock has a market cap of $47.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.97, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.50. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $86.07 and a 200 day moving average of $82.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.02. American Electric Power had a return on equity of 11.23% and a net margin of 14.60%. The firm had revenue of $5 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.02 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.11 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Electric Power Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.88 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.90%. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio is 65.31%.

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.