Ameren Corporation $AEE is HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC's 5th Largest Position

Key Points

• HITE Hedge Asset Management increased its stake in Ameren by 8.3% in Q3 to 714,687 shares (an additional 54,806 shares), making AEE its 5th largest position and representing about 0.26% of Ameren worth roughly $74.6 million.
• Ameren raised its quarterly dividend to $0.75 (from $0.71), an annualized $3.00 with a ~2.7% yield and an ex-dividend date of March 10.
• Wall Street shows mixed views with a consensus rating of "Hold" and a $113.30 target price, while individual analyst targets range around $116–$120 and ratings span Strong Buy to Sell.

HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE - Free Report) by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 714,687 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 54,806 shares during the period. Ameren makes up approximately 4.1% of HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 5th largest position. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.26% of Ameren worth $74,599,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Ameren by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,582,578 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $3,417,351,000 after acquiring an additional 1,268,457 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in Ameren by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,717,444 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,317,423,000 after acquiring an additional 297,386 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ameren by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,242,392 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $692,794,000 after purchasing an additional 192,808 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ameren by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,223,010 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $597,673,000 after purchasing an additional 179,137 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Ameren by 1.0% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,140,239 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $536,538,000 after purchasing an additional 49,282 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.09% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on AEE shares. Mizuho set a $117.00 price target on Ameren in a research note on Friday, February 13th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $112.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley set a $116.00 price objective on shares of Ameren in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Ameren in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, KeyCorp cut shares of Ameren from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $113.30.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.60, for a total transaction of $673,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 193,076 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,002,673.60. The trade was a 3.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.42% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ameren Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of Ameren stock opened at $109.98 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $106.27 and a two-hundred day moving average of $103.41. Ameren Corporation has a 12-month low of $91.77 and a 12-month high of $113.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. The stock has a market cap of $30.40 billion, a PE ratio of 20.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.56.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.01. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.69% and a net margin of 16.55%.The business had revenue of $1.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.69 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.77 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ameren Corporation will post 4.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This is an increase from Ameren's previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. Ameren's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.07%.

Ameren Profile

Ameren Corporation NYSE: AEE is an integrated energy company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, that provides electric and natural gas delivery and related services in portions of Missouri and Illinois. The company operates regulated utility businesses that serve a broad mix of residential, commercial and industrial customers, and it participates in wholesale energy markets and transmission operations that support reliable service across its service territories.

Ameren's core activities include generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, distribution of natural gas, and the provision of customer energy solutions such as demand-side management and energy efficiency programs.

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