Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. Takes $8.60 Million Position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. acquired a new stake in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 96,439 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $8,597,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its holdings in Ameren by 14.4% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 10,174 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $907,000 after purchasing an additional 1,282 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Ameren by 59.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,631,580 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $230,158,000 after buying an additional 984,879 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Ameren by 51.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,064,877 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $93,134,000 after buying an additional 362,772 shares in the last quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC increased its position in Ameren by 265.0% in the 3rd quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC now owns 173,771 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $15,198,000 after buying an additional 126,157 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its stake in Ameren by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,139,956 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,149,221,000 after buying an additional 334,752 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.09% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of the company'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 owns 57,486 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,966,471.94. This represents a 7.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of the firm'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 completion of 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 12,959 shares of company stock worth $1,316,712. Insiders own 0.42% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on AEE. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Ameren from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Evercore ISI raised 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 research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Ameren from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Ameren from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ameren currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $96.70.

Ameren Stock Down 1.7 %

NYSE:AEE traded down $1.64 on Tuesday, hitting $97.17. The stock had a trading volume of 1,395,199 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,437,313. Ameren Co. has a 1 year low of $69.39 and a 1 year high of $104.10. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $97.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $91.67. The stock has a market cap of $26.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.48. 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 (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 prior year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. Analysts predict that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be given a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.92%. This is a positive change from Ameren's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. 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.