Morton Community Bank Invests $347,000 in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Morton Community Bank bought a new position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 3,895 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $347,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Independent Advisor Alliance purchased a new stake in Ameren in the fourth quarter worth approximately $295,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its stake in Ameren by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 41,836 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,730,000 after buying an additional 2,349 shares in the last quarter. Midland Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Ameren by 28.5% in the fourth quarter. Midland Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,492 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $311,000 after buying an additional 775 shares in the last quarter. Enterprise Financial Services Corp boosted its stake in Ameren by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. Enterprise Financial Services Corp now owns 10,906 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $972,000 after buying an additional 1,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Ameren in the fourth quarter worth approximately $93,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.09% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,344 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,393,781.28. This represents a 11.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.27, for a total value of $266,901.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 14,495 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,424,423.65. This represents a 15.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 12,959 shares of company stock valued at $1,316,712 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.42% of the company's stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

AEE has been the subject of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI upgraded Ameren from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Ameren from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Ameren from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $93.40.

Ameren Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of Ameren stock traded down $0.43 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $97.44. 1,716,532 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,430,401. 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 company has a market cap of $26.30 billion, a PE ratio of 22.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.48. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $95.38 and a 200-day moving average of $90.67. Ameren Co. has a 12 month low of $69.39 and a 12 month high of $104.10.

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

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be paid a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.91%. This is a boost from Ameren's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. Ameren's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.