Ethic Inc. Buys Shares of 5,647 Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Ethic Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 5,647 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $503,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of AEE. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Ameren during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ameren during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Ameren during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new stake in Ameren during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Optiver Holding B.V. grew its holdings in Ameren by 78.7% in the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 470 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AEE has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Ameren from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Guggenheim reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Ameren in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Ameren from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Ameren from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, KeyCorp raised Ameren from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $103.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $101.80.

Ameren Price Performance

AEE stock traded down $1.32 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $97.26. The company had a trading volume of 210,649 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,790,742. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $98.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $95.04. Ameren Co. has a fifty-two week low of $69.39 and a fifty-two week high of $104.10. The company has a market cap of $26.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $2.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.92 billion. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.34% and a net margin of 15.51%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 10th. Ameren's dividend payout ratio is currently 62.97%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.79, for a total transaction of $492,275.97. Following the transaction, the insider now directly 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 sale 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 that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.37, for a total transaction 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 represents a 11.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.42% of the company's stock.

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.