Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. Acquires 222,900 Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE - Free Report) by 841.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 249,390 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 222,900 shares during the period. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. owned about 0.09% of Ameren worth $22,231,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC raised its position in Ameren by 0.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 489,935 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $42,849,000 after purchasing an additional 1,856 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Ameren in the 3rd quarter valued at $215,000. Tudor Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Ameren in the third quarter valued at $463,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in Ameren during the third quarter worth $74,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 6.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 331,801 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $29,019,000 after acquiring an additional 19,217 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AEE shares. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Ameren in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Evercore ISI raised shares of Ameren from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $89.00 to $104.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Ameren in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Ameren from $105.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Ameren from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $99.33.

Insider Activity

In other Ameren news, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company's stock, 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were 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 approximately $4,393,781.28. This trade represents a 11.26 % 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. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ameren Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE AEE traded up $0.06 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $99.27. The stock had a trading volume of 1,755,347 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,587,084. The firm has a market cap of $26.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.45. Ameren Co. has a fifty-two week low of $69.39 and a fifty-two week high of $104.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.44. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $98.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $93.99.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 last year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is a boost from Ameren's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.86%. Ameren's 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.