Armis Advisers LLC Invests $239,000 in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Armis Advisers LLC bought a new position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 2,683 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $239,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Ameren by 1.5% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in 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 valued at $1,518,835,000 after buying an additional 2,439,811 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Ameren by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,749,446 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $600,157,000 after buying an additional 77,282 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Ameren by 96.5% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,170,709 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $460,917,000 after buying an additional 2,539,129 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in Ameren by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,601,449 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $410,174,000 after buying an additional 39,455 shares in the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameren

In other Ameren news, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.79, for a total value of $492,275.97. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 57,486 shares in the company, valued at $5,966,471.94. The trade was a 7.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.37, for a total value of $557,535.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 43,344 shares in the company, valued at $4,393,781.28. The trade was a 11.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.42% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AEE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Ameren from $101.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Ameren in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley set a $102.00 price objective on shares of Ameren and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. KeyCorp raised shares of Ameren from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $103.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Ameren from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $101.90.

Ameren Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE:AEE traded up $0.65 on Friday, hitting $96.82. 2,370,624 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,557,708. Ameren Co. has a 12 month low of $69.39 and a 12 month high of $104.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.51. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $97.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $95.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.44.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) last posted its 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). Ameren had a net margin of 15.51% and a return on equity of 10.34%. The company had revenue of $2.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. Ameren's revenue for the quarter was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 10th will be paid a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 10th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.93%. Ameren's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.97%.

Ameren Company 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.