CFO4Life Group LLC Purchases Shares of 5,567 Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE)

CFO4Life Group LLC acquired a new stake in Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 5,567 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $559,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its position in shares of Ameren by 1,732.4% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 3,068,505 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $273,527,000 after buying an additional 2,901,047 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ameren by 96.5% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,170,709 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $460,917,000 after purchasing an additional 2,539,129 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ameren by 16.7% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 17,038,754 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,518,835,000 after purchasing an additional 2,439,811 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Ameren by 116.0% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,357,876 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $210,181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,266,051 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ameren by 76.7% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,134,288 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $190,250,000 after purchasing an additional 926,126 shares in the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Ameren from $111.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Ameren from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $91.00 to $100.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Ameren from $102.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Ameren from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Ameren in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $101.27.

Ameren Stock Performance

NYSE:AEE traded down $0.13 on Friday, hitting $96.16. The stock had a trading volume of 1,155,767 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,579,753. The stock has a market cap of $25.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $96.19 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $96.33. Ameren Corporation has a 52-week low of $72.33 and a 52-week high of $104.10.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.01). Ameren had a return on equity of 10.40% and a net margin of 15.31%. The company had revenue of $2.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.92 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Ameren Corporation will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 10th were paid a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.95%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 10th. Ameren's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 62.97%.

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.