Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Grows Position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE - Free Report) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 120,179 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 2,938 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC's holdings in Ameren were worth $10,713,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Ameren by 2.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,139,956 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,149,221,000 after buying an additional 334,752 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Ameren by 1.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,672,164 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $581,661,000 after buying an additional 127,287 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in shares of Ameren by 0.9% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,561,994 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $398,992,000 after buying an additional 39,300 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Ameren by 59.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,631,580 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $230,158,000 after buying an additional 984,879 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its position in shares of Ameren by 26.1% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 2,318,537 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $202,779,000 after buying an additional 479,668 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company's stock.

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Insider Activity

In other news, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.27, for a total transaction of $266,901.32. Following the completion of the sale, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.79, for a total transaction of $492,275.97. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 57,486 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 12,959 shares of company stock valued at $1,316,712. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AEE. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Ameren from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Ameren from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $96.70.

Ameren Trading Down 1.1 %

NYSE AEE traded down $1.09 on Friday, hitting $98.89. 3,577,161 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,438,775. 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 fifty day moving average price of $96.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $91.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.48. 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 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 return on equity of 10.34% and a net margin of 15.51%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is a positive change from Ameren's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. Ameren's 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.