Vestcor Inc Sells 3,923 Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Vestcor Inc trimmed its position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE - Free Report) by 13.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 24,398 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 3,923 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc's holdings in Ameren were worth $2,175,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AEE. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Ameren by 59.8% in the third 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. Verition Fund Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ameren by 484.8% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 637,241 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $55,733,000 after acquiring an additional 528,270 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 479,668 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Ameren by 42.1% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,469,037 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $130,950,000 after purchasing an additional 434,889 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Ameren by 51.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,064,877 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $93,134,000 after purchasing an additional 362,772 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Ameren Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of AEE stock traded up $0.28 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $100.13. The company had a trading volume of 2,155,020 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,426,605. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $96.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $91.22. Ameren Co. has a 12 month low of $69.39 and a 12 month high of $104.10. The company has a market cap of $27.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.65, 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 current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.44.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) last posted 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 return on equity of 10.34% and a net margin of 15.51%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be paid a $0.71 dividend. 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. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.84%. Ameren's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.27, for a total transaction of $266,901.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 14,495 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,424,423.65. This trade represents a 15.78 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now owns 57,486 shares in the company, valued at $5,966,471.94. The trade was a 7.62 % 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 in the last 90 days. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.