Invesco Ltd. Sells 115,085 Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Invesco Ltd. cut its position in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE - Free Report) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,012,775 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 115,085 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd. owned approximately 1.50% of Ameren worth $357,699,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its holdings in Ameren by 1,732.4% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 3,068,505 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $273,527,000 after purchasing an additional 2,901,047 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ameren by 96.5% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,170,709 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $460,917,000 after purchasing an additional 2,539,129 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its stake in shares of Ameren by 116.0% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,357,876 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $210,181,000 after acquiring an additional 1,266,051 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Ameren by 42.1% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,469,037 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $130,950,000 after purchasing an additional 434,889 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Ameren by 51.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,064,877 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $93,134,000 after acquiring an additional 362,772 shares in the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AEE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI upgraded 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 report on Tuesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Ameren from $102.00 to $101.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Ameren from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Ameren from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $99.22.

Insider Activity at Ameren

In other news, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.27, for a total value of $266,901.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 14,495 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,424,423.65. The trade was a 15.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.37, for a total transaction of $557,535.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,344 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,393,781.28. This represents a 11.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 12,959 shares of company stock worth $1,316,712. 0.42% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ameren Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE AEE traded up $0.46 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $99.47. The stock had a trading volume of 355,582 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,573,676. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.66. The company has a market capitalization of $26.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.45. Ameren Co. has a 52 week low of $69.39 and a 52 week high of $104.10. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $98.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $93.16.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 15.51% and a return on equity of 10.34%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 11th. This is an increase from Ameren's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.86%. Ameren's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.25%.

Ameren 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.