Victory Capital Management Inc. Lowers Position in Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE)

Victory Capital Management Inc. cut its stake in Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE - Free Report) by 39.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 194,920 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 128,468 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned about 0.07% of Ameren worth $19,570,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AEE. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Ameren by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 27,048,729 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,411,125,000 after buying an additional 392,170 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Ameren by 16.7% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 17,038,754 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,518,835,000 after purchasing an additional 2,439,811 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Ameren by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,749,446 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $600,157,000 after purchasing an additional 77,282 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Ameren by 96.5% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,170,709 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $460,917,000 after purchasing an additional 2,539,129 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 39,455 shares during the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on AEE. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Ameren from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Barclays dropped their price target on Ameren from $104.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Ameren from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Ameren from $102.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised Ameren from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $91.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Five research 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $101.36.

Ameren Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE:AEE traded up $0.11 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $100.15. 1,059,004 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,469,824. Ameren Corporation has a 12-month low of $77.08 and a 12-month high of $104.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.21, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $96.43 and a 200-day moving average price of $96.90.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.01). Ameren had a net margin of 15.31% and a return on equity of 10.40%. The business had revenue of $2.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.92 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ameren Corporation will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 10th were given a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 10th. Ameren's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.