Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Purchases 7,927 Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE - Free Report) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 649,162 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 7,927 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned approximately 0.24% of Ameren worth $57,866,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AEE. Choreo LLC boosted its position in shares of Ameren by 36.2% in the 4th quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 15,174 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,365,000 after purchasing an additional 4,036 shares in the last quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Ameren by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 6,406 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $571,000 after acquiring an additional 338 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Ameren by 38.7% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 24,367 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,195,000 after purchasing an additional 6,803 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. boosted its stake in Ameren by 86.2% in the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 540 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc boosted its stake in Ameren by 11.3% in the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 125,658 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $11,153,000 after purchasing an additional 12,747 shares in the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AEE. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Ameren from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Barclays cut Ameren from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $88.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Ameren from $93.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised Ameren from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price target for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $92.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.15, for a total value of $598,975.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 205,171 shares in the company, valued at $18,906,507.65. The trade was a 3.07 % 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. 0.42% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ameren Stock Performance

Shares of AEE traded up $1.09 on Thursday, reaching $98.35. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,628,964 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,449,381. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.14, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.49. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $91.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $88.17. Ameren Co. has a 12-month low of $67.68 and a 12-month high of $98.69.

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 10.09% and a net margin of 15.52%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Ameren Co. will post 4.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be issued a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.89%. This is a positive change 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 currently 63.06%.

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.