Amundi Sells 26,439 Shares of Ameren Corporation $AEE

Key Points

• Amundi reduced its stake in Ameren Corporation by 8.3%, selling 26,439 shares, and now holds approximately 293,713 shares valued at $29.87 million.
• Wall Street analysts have issued optimistic ratings for Ameren, with upgrades including Goldman Sachs raising its price target from $91 to $100 and UBS increasing it from $111 to $114.
• Ameren has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.71 per share, representing an annual yield of 2.8%, with the ex-dividend date set for September 9th.

Amundi lessened its holdings in shares of Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE - Free Report) by 8.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 293,713 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 26,439 shares during the period. Amundi owned about 0.11% of Ameren worth $29,865,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 27.1% during the 4th quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 4,250 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $379,000 after acquiring an additional 905 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 43.6% during the 4th quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,192 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $374,000 after acquiring an additional 1,273 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its stake in Ameren by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 10,107 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $901,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in Ameren by 58.5% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 798,160 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $71,148,000 after purchasing an additional 294,512 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ensign Peak Advisors Inc increased its position in Ameren by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 178,171 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $15,882,000 after acquiring an additional 25,937 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.09% of the company's stock.

Ameren Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of Ameren stock traded up $0.71 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $100.00. The company's stock had a trading volume of 457,410 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,694,446. Ameren Corporation has a one year low of $82.95 and a one year high of $104.10. The company has a market capitalization of $27.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.47. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $99.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $98.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.01. Ameren had a net margin of 14.55% and a return on equity of 10.38%. The firm had revenue of $2.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.97 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 31.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Ameren has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.850-5.050 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Ameren Corporation will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 9th will be given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 9th. Ameren's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameren

In related news, SVP Gwendolyn G. Mizell sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.79, for a total transaction of $101,790.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 9,129 shares of the company's stock, valued at $929,240.91. This trade represents a 9.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.42% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AEE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. KeyCorp set a $104.00 price objective on shares of Ameren and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Ameren from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Ameren from $111.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Ameren from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $91.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Ameren from $104.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ameren has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $102.80.

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.