Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) Position Lessened by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc reduced its stake in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE - Free Report) by 16.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,022,185 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 397,607 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.76% of Ameren worth $180,258,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ameren in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Ameren in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ameren in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ameren by 49.4% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 538 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. boosted its position in shares of Ameren by 86.2% in the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 540 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Ameren

In other news, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.27, for a total transaction of $266,901.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,495 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,424,423.65. This represents a 15.78 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.79, for a total transaction of $492,275.97. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 57,486 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,966,471.94. This represents a 7.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 12,959 shares of company stock worth $1,316,712. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Remove Ads

Ameren Trading Up 0.4 %

AEE stock traded up $0.40 on Tuesday, hitting $99.41. 359,499 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,854,356. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.45. The business's fifty day moving average is $98.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $93.16. Ameren Co. has a twelve month low of $69.39 and a twelve month high of $104.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.44.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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 10.34% and a net margin of 15.51%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AEE. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Ameren from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group raised their price target on Ameren from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Barclays dropped their price objective on Ameren from $102.00 to $101.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Ameren from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their target price for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ameren presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $99.22.

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.