Ameren Corporation $AEE Shares Sold by Benjamin Edwards Inc.

Key Points

• Benjamin Edwards Inc. reduced its stake in Ameren Corporation by 93.2%, owning only 2,871 shares valued at $288,000 after selling over 39,000 shares in the first quarter.
• Ameren reported a quarterly earnings per share of $1.01, exceeding analyst expectations, alongside a 31.2% year-over-year revenue increase to $2.22 billion.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.71 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 2.8%.

Benjamin Edwards Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE - Free Report) by 93.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,871 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 39,091 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc.'s holdings in Ameren were worth $288,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AEE. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new position in Ameren in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Ameren in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. ORG Partners LLC boosted its position in Ameren by 74.5% in the 1st quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 349 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 149 shares during the period. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted its position in Ameren by 586.9% in the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 419 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 358 shares during the period. Finally, Optiver Holding B.V. boosted its position in Ameren by 78.7% in the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 470 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 207 shares during the period. 79.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Ameren from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Ameren from $111.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. 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. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Ameren from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $91.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Finally, 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $101.36.

Ameren Price Performance

Ameren stock traded up $0.0720 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $101.9320. The company had a trading volume of 493,835 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,720,318. Ameren Corporation has a 1 year low of $81.31 and a 1 year high of $104.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.56. The company has a market capitalization of $27.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.45. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $98.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $97.96.

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

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 9th will be given a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 9th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Ameren's dividend payout ratio is currently 62.42%.

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.