Magellan Asset Management Ltd Sells 34,766 Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Magellan Asset Management Ltd reduced its position in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE - Free Report) by 14.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 201,417 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 34,766 shares during the quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd owned 0.08% of Ameren worth $17,954,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AEE. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ameren during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in Ameren during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ameren in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ameren by 49.4% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 538 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 178 shares during the period. Finally, Mather Group LLC. boosted its holdings in Ameren by 86.2% in the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 540 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.09% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AEE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Evercore ISI upgraded Ameren from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays upped their price objective on Ameren from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Ameren from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Ameren from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $96.70.

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Insider Activity

In other Ameren news, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.79, for a total value of $492,275.97. Following the transaction, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were 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 $1,424,423.65. This represents a 15.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 12,959 shares of company stock worth $1,316,712. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ameren Stock Up 2.1 %

Ameren stock traded up $1.96 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $96.30. The company's stock had a trading volume of 594,156 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,843,764. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.66. Ameren Co. has a 12 month low of $69.39 and a 12 month high of $104.10. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $98.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $92.70. The company has a market capitalization of $25.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.45.

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 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 period in the prior year, the business posted $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.95%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 11th. This is a positive change from Ameren's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Ameren's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.25%.

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.