Callan Family Office LLC Purchases New Position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Callan Family Office LLC acquired a new position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,351 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $299,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Ameren by 2.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,139,956 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,149,221,000 after purchasing an additional 334,752 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ameren by 1.9% during the 3rd 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 during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,561,994 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $398,992,000 after acquiring an additional 39,300 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 59.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,631,580 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $230,158,000 after acquiring an additional 984,879 shares during the period. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew 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 worth $202,779,000 after purchasing an additional 479,668 shares during the period. 79.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AEE. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays upped their price target on Ameren from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Ameren from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised Ameren from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ameren has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $93.40.

Ameren Stock Up 1.3 %

AEE traded up $1.30 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $99.26. 1,827,679 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,431,260. Ameren Co. has a 1 year low of $69.39 and a 1 year high of $104.10. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $26.79 billion, a PE ratio of 22.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $95.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $90.72.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 15.51% and a return on equity of 10.34%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The firm 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 $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. This is an increase from Ameren's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Ameren's dividend payout ratio is 64.25%.

Insider Transactions at Ameren

In related news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.37, for a total transaction of $557,535.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 43,344 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,393,781.28. This trade represents a 11.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were 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 in the company, 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 ninety days. Company insiders own 0.42% of the company's stock.

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.