Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Sells 24,474 Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA reduced its stake in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE - Free Report) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,925,202 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 24,474 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned approximately 0.72% of Ameren worth $171,613,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Ameren by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,846 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $165,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC raised its holdings in Ameren by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 4,786 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ameren by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 6,276 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $559,000 after buying an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Ameren by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 9,937 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $886,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its position in shares of Ameren by 16.3% during the fourth quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 980 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $87,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AEE has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays lowered their price objective on Ameren from $102.00 to $101.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Ameren from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Ameren from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Ameren from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $96.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameren

In other news, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $1,424,423.65. The trade was a 15.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was 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 $4,393,781.28. This represents a 11.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,959 shares of company stock valued at $1,316,712 over the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ameren Stock Performance

NYSE AEE traded up $2.29 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $96.52. 2,418,353 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,571,055. Ameren Co. has a 52 week low of $69.39 and a 52 week high of $104.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The business's fifty day moving average price is $98.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $92.87.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) last issued 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 quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.60 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.94%. This is an increase from Ameren's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Ameren's payout ratio is currently 64.25%.

About Ameren

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.