Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co Makes New $1.78 Million Investment in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co purchased a new stake in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 20,018 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,784,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC grew its position in Ameren by 59.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,631,580 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $230,158,000 after acquiring an additional 984,879 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its position in shares of Ameren by 26.1% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Ameren by 42.1% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,469,037 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $130,950,000 after buying an additional 434,889 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Ameren by 51.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,064,877 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $93,134,000 after buying an additional 362,772 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its stake in Ameren by 2.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,139,956 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,149,221,000 after buying an additional 334,752 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.09% of the company's stock.

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Insider Activity

In other Ameren news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.37, for a total value 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. The trade was a 11.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of the firm's 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 transaction, the director now owns 14,495 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,424,423.65. This trade represents a 15.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 12,959 shares of company stock valued at $1,316,712. Insiders own 0.42% of the company's stock.

Ameren Stock Up 1.5 %

AEE traded up $1.55 on Thursday, reaching $102.39. The company's stock had a trading volume of 697,306 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,783,406. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. Ameren Co. has a fifty-two week low of $69.39 and a fifty-two week high of $104.10. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $98.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $92.38. The company has a market capitalization of $27.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.48.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 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 quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.77%. This is a boost from Ameren's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Ameren's payout ratio is 64.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on AEE. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Ameren from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $89.00 to $104.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays raised their price target on Ameren from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Ameren from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group raised their target price on Ameren from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 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 note 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $96.70.

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.