Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Has $27.40 Million Holdings in Ameren Corporation $AEE

Key Points

• The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board reduced its stake in Ameren Corporation by 45.1%, now holding 272,920 shares worth approximately $27.4 million.
• Ameren announced a quarterly dividend of $0.71 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 2.8%, with a dividend payout ratio of 62.42%.
• Analysts have mixed views on Ameren, with Goldman Sachs upgrading their rating to "neutral" and raising the price target from $91 to $100, while others set their targets as high as $112.

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lowered its holdings in shares of Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE - Free Report) by 45.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 272,920 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 224,298 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned approximately 0.10% of Ameren worth $27,401,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ameren by 2.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,314,121 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $3,445,138,000 after buying an additional 979,928 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 5.0% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 28,404,577 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,851,821,000 after buying an additional 1,355,848 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 16.1% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,658,775 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $467,741,000 after buying an additional 646,000 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in shares of Ameren by 0.9% in 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 period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Ameren by 2.4% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,479,590 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $248,951,000 after purchasing an additional 57,545 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AEE. Morgan Stanley restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Ameren in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Ameren from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Ameren from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $91.00 to $100.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. UBS Group increased their price target on Ameren from $111.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, KeyCorp set a $104.00 price objective on shares of Ameren and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Ameren currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $102.80.

Ameren Stock Performance

Shares of AEE traded down $0.36 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $100.52. 1,457,670 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,695,855. Ameren Corporation has a 52 week low of $82.79 and a 52 week high of $104.10. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $99.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $98.25. The firm has a market cap of $27.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51.

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

Ameren Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Ameren

In related news, SVP Gwendolyn G. Mizell sold 1,000 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.79, for a total value 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.42% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.