Ameren Corporation $AEE Position Boosted by Fifth Third Bancorp

Key Points

• Fifth Third Bancorp increased its Ameren stake by 1,147.1% in the first quarter, ending with 72,468 shares valued at about $7.97 million.
• Wall Street sentiment remains generally positive: Ameren has a Moderate Buy consensus, with 9 Buy ratings and an average price target of $119.50.
• Ameren reported better-than-expected earnings of $1.28 per share for the quarter and continues to pay a $0.75 quarterly dividend, equating to a 2.7% yield.

Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE - Free Report) by 1,147.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 72,468 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 66,657 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp's holdings in Ameren were worth $7,966,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Ameren by 285.5% during the third quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 266 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the period. Garton & Associates Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Ameren in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Ameren by 6,040.0% in the second quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. now owns 307 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its position in Ameren by 6,080.0% in the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 309 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 304 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its position in Ameren by 74.9% in the 1st quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 292 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on AEE. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Ameren from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, May 25th. Argus increased their price objective on shares of Ameren from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Ameren from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Ameren from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $120.00 to $126.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their target price on Ameren from $126.00 to $121.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 18th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ameren presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $119.50.

Ameren Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of NYSE:AEE opened at $111.40 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.04, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.47. Ameren Corporation has a 1-year low of $95.15 and a 1-year high of $118.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.62. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $110.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $108.71.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.11. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.94% and a net margin of 17.17%.The company had revenue of $2.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.24 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.07 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Ameren has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.250-5.450 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ameren Corporation will post 5.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. Ameren's payout ratio is 53.96%.

Insider Activity at Ameren

In other news, SVP Theresa A. Shaw sold 325 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.08, for a total transaction of $35,451.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 32,618 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,557,971.44. This represents a 0.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ameren Company 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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