First Merchants Corp Sells 520 Shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

First Merchants Corp lessened its holdings in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 15.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 2,816 shares of the company’s stock after selling 520 shares during the quarter. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in American Electric Power were worth $260,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of American Electric Power by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,902,755 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,760,223,000 after acquiring an additional 1,114,954 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in American Electric Power by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,524,692 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,280,655,000 after purchasing an additional 352,588 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 18.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,866,952 shares of the company’s stock worth $704,549,000 after buying an additional 1,087,163 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 4,644,349 shares of the company’s stock worth $427,009,000 after buying an additional 100,578 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 109.5% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,753,250 shares of the company’s stock worth $385,079,000 after buying an additional 1,962,125 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

American Electric Power Price Performance

Shares of AEP opened at $101.83 on Friday. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a 1-year low of $79.01 and a 1-year high of $105.18. The stock has a market cap of $54.19 billion, a PE ratio of 20.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.58. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $95.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $97.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 0.57 and a quick ratio of 0.41.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.24. American Electric Power had a net margin of 13.48% and a return on equity of 11.41%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.23 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.58 EPS for the current year.

American Electric Power Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.65%. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.55%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on AEP. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of American Electric Power from $97.00 to $96.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of American Electric Power from $109.00 to $104.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of American Electric Power from $91.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Guggenheim upgraded shares of American Electric Power from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of American Electric Power from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $98.00 to $104.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.00.

American Electric Power Company 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.