Cetera Investment Advisers Acquires 13,019 Shares of Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE)

Key Points

• Cetera Investment Advisers has increased its stake in Ameren Corporation by 21.8%, acquiring an additional 13,019 shares in the first quarter.
• Ameren reported $1.01 earnings per share for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations of $1.00, alongside revenue of $2.22 billion.
• The company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" among analysts, with a consensus price target of $101.36 per share.

Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in shares of Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE - Free Report) by 21.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 72,604 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 13,019 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers' holdings in Ameren were worth $7,290,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. LPL Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 131,200 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $11,695,000 after buying an additional 14,121 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,095,734 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $97,674,000 after buying an additional 30,857 shares during the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 20,071 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,789,000 after buying an additional 1,272 shares during the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 49.0% in the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 12,209 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,088,000 after buying an additional 4,014 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 54.9% in the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 270,788 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $24,153,000 after buying an additional 95,948 shares during the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on AEE shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Ameren from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Ameren from $102.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. KeyCorp set a $104.00 target price on Ameren and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Ameren in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on Ameren from $104.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $101.36.

Ameren Price Performance

Shares of AEE traded up $1.21 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $103.32. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,124,627 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,748,576. Ameren Corporation has a one year low of $78.91 and a one year high of $104.10. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $96.75 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $97.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.45.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.01. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.38% and a net margin of 14.55%. The company had revenue of $2.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.97 EPS. Ameren's revenue for the quarter was up 31.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ameren Corporation will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 10th were issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 10th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. Ameren's payout ratio is presently 62.42%.

Ameren 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.