Arcus Capital Partners LLC Invests $908,000 in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Arcus Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 10,190 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $908,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp lifted its position in Ameren by 2.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,139,956 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,149,221,000 after purchasing an additional 334,752 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ameren by 1.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,672,164 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $581,661,000 after buying an additional 127,287 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in Ameren by 0.9% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,561,994 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $398,992,000 after buying an additional 39,300 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Ameren by 59.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,631,580 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $230,158,000 after buying an additional 984,879 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its holdings in Ameren by 26.1% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 2,318,537 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $202,779,000 after buying an additional 479,668 shares in the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.15, for a total transaction of $598,975.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 205,171 shares in the company, valued at $18,906,507.65. The trade was a 3.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on AEE shares. Evercore ISI upgraded Ameren from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their target price for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday. Barclays downgraded Ameren from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $88.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Ameren from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $92.70.

Ameren Price Performance

Shares of Ameren stock traded up $0.21 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $98.28. 2,043,732 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,536,682. The business has a fifty day moving average of $92.17 and a two-hundred day moving average of $88.63. The company has a market capitalization of $26.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. Ameren Co. has a 1 year low of $69.31 and a 1 year high of $100.61.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.83 by ($0.06). Ameren had a net margin of 15.52% and a return on equity of 10.09%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Ameren Co. will post 4.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is an increase from Ameren's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.89%. Ameren's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.06%.

Ameren Company Profile

Ameren Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a public utility holding company in the United States. The company operates through four segments: Ameren Missouri, Ameren Illinois Electric Distribution, Ameren Illinois Natural Gas, and Ameren Transmission. It engages in the rate-regulated electric generation, transmission, and distribution activities; and rate-regulated natural gas distribution business.