Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) Shares Sold by New York State Teachers Retirement System

New York State Teachers Retirement System lowered its position in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE - Free Report) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 250,625 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 6,228 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 0.09% of Ameren worth $22,341,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 334,752 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Ameren by 1.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,672,164 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $581,661,000 after acquiring an additional 127,287 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in Ameren by 0.9% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,561,994 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $398,992,000 after acquiring an additional 39,300 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in Ameren by 59.8% during 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 last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its position in Ameren by 26.1% during the third 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 acquiring an additional 479,668 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.09% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Ameren from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays lowered shares of Ameren from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $88.00 to $95.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Ameren from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ameren has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $92.70.

Ameren Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:AEE traded down $0.32 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $98.03. 2,114,847 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,554,722. 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 $26.17 billion, a PE ratio of 22.18, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.49. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $92.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $88.74. Ameren Co. has a twelve month low of $69.31 and a twelve month high of $100.61.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) last posted its 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 net margin of 15.51% and a return on equity of 10.34%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate 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 dividend of $0.71 per share. This is an increase from Ameren's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.90%. Ameren's payout ratio is 60.63%.

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.