Miller Financial Services LLC Buys Shares of 2,688 American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

Miller Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 2,688 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $248,000.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AEP has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays decreased their target price on American Electric Power from $100.00 to $99.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Bank of America raised shares of American Electric Power from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $98.00 to $104.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of American Electric Power from $108.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of 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, 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 report on Thursday, December 12th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.46.

American Electric Power Stock Performance

NASDAQ AEP opened at $107.32 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $99.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $98.71. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a 12-month low of $79.16 and a 12-month high of $109.52. The firm has a market cap of $57.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.16, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $1.24 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates 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 in the previous year, the company posted $1.23 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

American Electric Power Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.47%. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio 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.