Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) Stock Holdings Trimmed by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lessened its holdings in Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE - Free Report) by 1.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 637,508 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 11,654 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned approximately 0.24% of Ameren worth $64,006,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings 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 worth $2,411,125,000 after acquiring an additional 392,170 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ameren by 16.7% during the 4th 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ameren by 1.2% during the 4th 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 period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ameren by 96.5% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted 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 buying an additional 39,455 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.09% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AEE. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Ameren from $102.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Ameren from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $91.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Ameren in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Ameren from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Ameren from $101.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Five 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 data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $101.64.

Ameren Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of Ameren stock traded down $0.94 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $95.45. The stock had a trading volume of 1,569,649 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,575,460. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49. Ameren Corporation has a 1 year low of $70.15 and a 1 year high of $104.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.48. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $96.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $95.94.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $2.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.92 billion. Ameren had a net margin of 15.31% and a return on equity of 10.40%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ameren Corporation will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 10th were paid a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 10th. Ameren's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.97%.

About Ameren

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.