Cohen & Steers Inc. Sells 25,774 Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Cohen & Steers Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE - Free Report) by 2.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 933,568 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 25,774 shares during the period. Cohen & Steers Inc. owned approximately 0.35% of Ameren worth $83,218,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Stifel Financial Corp grew its position in Ameren by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 35,686 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,121,000 after purchasing an additional 1,144 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ameren by 16.7% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 15,544 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,359,000 after buying an additional 2,225 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Ameren by 0.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 489,935 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $42,849,000 after acquiring an additional 1,856 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Ameren by 5.2% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,087 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $446,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in Ameren in the 3rd quarter valued at $215,000. 79.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ameren news, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 14,495 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,424,423.65. The trade was a 15.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 57,486 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,966,471.94. The trade was a 7.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,959 shares of company stock worth $1,316,712 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.42% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Ameren Trading Up 0.3 %

Ameren stock traded up $0.31 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $98.31. The stock had a trading volume of 1,747,644 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,584,693. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.44. The stock has a market cap of $26.54 billion, a PE ratio of 22.24, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $98.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $93.38. Ameren Co. has a 52 week low of $69.39 and a 52 week high of $104.10.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) last announced its 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 return on equity of 10.34% and a net margin of 15.51%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.60 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 a boost from Ameren's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 11th. Ameren's payout ratio is currently 64.25%.

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.