Farringdon Capital Ltd. Takes $969,000 Position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Farringdon Capital Ltd. purchased a new stake in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 10,872 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $969,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AEE. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 2,901,047 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 96.5% in the 4th 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. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in 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. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in Ameren by 42.1% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,469,037 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $130,950,000 after acquiring an additional 434,889 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Ameren by 51.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,064,877 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $93,134,000 after purchasing an additional 362,772 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.09% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was 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 approximately $5,966,471.94. The trade was a 7.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.37, for a total value of $557,535.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 43,344 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,393,781.28. This trade represents a 11.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 12,959 shares of company stock worth $1,316,712. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ameren Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE AEE traded up $0.31 during trading on Friday, hitting $98.31. 1,747,644 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,585,972. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $98.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $93.42. Ameren Co. has a 1 year low of $69.39 and a 1 year high of $104.10.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 10.34% and a net margin of 15.51%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Ameren Company 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.