Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Grows Stock Holdings in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE - Free Report) by 38.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,367 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 6,803 shares during the quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Ameren were worth $2,195,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ameren by 8,645.7% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,160,998 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,015,410,000 after acquiring an additional 1,147,723 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Ameren by 59.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,631,580 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $230,158,000 after purchasing an additional 984,879 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Ameren by 3,738.0% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 745,872 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $65,234,000 after purchasing an additional 726,438 shares during the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC raised its position in Ameren by 484.8% during the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 637,241 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $55,733,000 after purchasing an additional 528,270 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its holdings in Ameren by 26.1% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 2,318,537 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $202,779,000 after buying an additional 479,668 shares during the period. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AEE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Ameren from $93.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Barclays downgraded shares of Ameren from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $88.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Ameren from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Ameren from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $92.00.

Insider Transactions at Ameren

In related news, CFO Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.15, for a total transaction of $598,975.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 205,171 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,906,507.65. This trade represents a 3.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.42% of the company's stock.

Ameren Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of AEE traded up $1.09 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $98.35. The company had a trading volume of 2,628,964 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,449,381. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.63. The company has a market capitalization of $26.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.49. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $91.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $88.17. Ameren Co. has a 52 week low of $67.68 and a 52 week high of $98.69.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.83 by ($0.06). Ameren had a return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 15.52%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ameren Co. will post 4.63 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

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

About Ameren

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.