Leavell Investment Management Inc. Purchases 575 Shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

Leavell Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 22.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,160 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 575 shares during the quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in American Electric Power were worth $291,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AEP. Fortress Financial Solutions LLC bought a new position in American Electric Power in the fourth quarter valued at $319,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of American Electric Power in the 4th quarter valued at about $96,000. Essex Financial Services Inc. increased its position in shares of American Electric Power by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 6,305 shares of the company’s stock valued at $582,000 after acquiring an additional 192 shares during the last quarter. Cambiar Investors LLC bought a new stake in American Electric Power during the fourth quarter worth about $33,020,000. Finally, Focus Financial Network Inc. boosted its position in American Electric Power by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 4,842 shares of the company’s stock valued at $447,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. 75.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AEP shares. Guggenheim upgraded American Electric Power from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of American Electric Power from $108.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $100.00 to $99.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on American Electric Power from $109.00 to $104.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank cut American Electric Power from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $105.00 to $102.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, American Electric Power currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $98.00.

American Electric Power Price Performance

Shares of American Electric Power stock opened at $101.83 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $95.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $97.92. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a twelve month low of $79.01 and a twelve month high of $105.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $54.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.24. American Electric Power had a return on equity of 11.41% and a net margin of 13.48%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.23 EPS. 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 dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.65%. American Electric Power’s payout ratio is 74.55%.

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.