Two Sigma Investments LP Lowers Stock Holdings in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Two Sigma Investments LP reduced its stake in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE - Free Report) by 45.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,295 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 17,462 shares during the period. Two Sigma Investments LP's holdings in Ameren were worth $1,898,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Ameren by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 27,048,729 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,411,125,000 after acquiring an additional 392,170 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Ameren by 16.7% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 17,038,754 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,518,835,000 after buying an additional 2,439,811 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Ameren by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,749,446 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $600,157,000 after buying an additional 77,282 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ameren by 96.5% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,170,709 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $460,917,000 after purchasing an additional 2,539,129 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in Ameren by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,601,449 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $410,174,000 after acquiring an additional 39,455 shares during the period. 79.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Ameren from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Ameren from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Morgan Stanley set a $102.00 price objective on Ameren and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. UBS Group boosted their target price on Ameren from $113.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, KeyCorp raised Ameren from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $103.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $102.00.

Ameren Price Performance

Shares of AEE traded down $0.82 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $96.50. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,089,188 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,558,355. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $97.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $95.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.49. Ameren Co. has a 1-year low of $69.39 and a 1-year high of $104.10.

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

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 10th will be issued a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 10th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.94%. Ameren's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.97%.

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.