Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Sells 23,804 Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board trimmed its position in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE - Free Report) by 4.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 497,218 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 23,804 shares during the quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned 0.19% of Ameren worth $44,322,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ameren by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,749,446 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $600,157,000 after purchasing an additional 77,282 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 2,539,129 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its position in shares of Ameren by 1,732.4% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 3,068,505 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $273,527,000 after acquiring an additional 2,901,047 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings 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 worth $210,181,000 after acquiring an additional 1,266,051 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Ameren by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,939,725 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $172,907,000 after acquiring an additional 38,939 shares in the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameren

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

Ameren Stock Performance

Shares of Ameren stock traded up $0.81 during trading on Thursday, hitting $99.44. 219,966 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,826,697. Ameren Co. has a 1-year low of $69.39 and a 1-year high of $104.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $98.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $93.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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 firm earned $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were issued a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.86%. This is a positive change from Ameren's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 11th. Ameren's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.