Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Has $6.87 Million Stake in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. decreased its holdings in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 66,976 shares of the company’s stock after selling 500 shares during the quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in American Electric Power were worth $6,872,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its position in shares of American Electric Power by 10,177.1% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,982,444 shares of the company’s stock worth $203,399,000 after buying an additional 1,963,154 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp lifted its position in shares of American Electric Power by 542.4% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 2,282,571 shares of the company’s stock valued at $193,541,000 after purchasing an additional 1,927,234 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of American Electric Power by 381.9% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,995,884 shares of the company’s stock valued at $171,127,000 after purchasing an additional 1,581,734 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in shares of American Electric Power by 221.9% during the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,715,346 shares of the company’s stock valued at $157,140,000 after purchasing an additional 1,182,451 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zimmer Partners LP increased its holdings in American Electric Power by 578.2% during the first quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 975,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $83,948,000 after buying an additional 831,235 shares during the last quarter. 75.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $102.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of American Electric Power from $99.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, American Electric Power currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.43.

American Electric Power Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of American Electric Power stock traded down $1.61 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $97.50. 233,385 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,098,952. The firm has a market cap of $51.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a 52-week low of $74.37 and a 52-week high of $105.18. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $100.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $94.07.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $4.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.74 billion. American Electric Power had a return on equity of 11.31% and a net margin of 13.52%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.13 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Electric Power Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.93 per share. This is an increase from American Electric Power’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.82%. American Electric Power’s payout ratio is 69.02%.

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.