Legal & General Group Plc Has $221.34 Million Stock Holdings in Ameren Corporation $AEE

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its stake in Ameren by 6.2% in the quarter to 2,120,507 shares, equal to 0.78% of the company and worth about $221.34 million.
• Ameren raised its quarterly dividend to $0.75 per share (annualized $3.00), a 2.7% yield with an ex-dividend date of March 10 and payment on March 31.
• Analysts are mixed on AEE with a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $113.30 (one Strong Buy, five Buy, six Hold, one Sell).

Legal & General Group Plc reduced its stake in Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE - Free Report) by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,120,507 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 139,911 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.78% of Ameren worth $221,339,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 22.9% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 8,077 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $811,000 after buying an additional 1,503 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in Ameren by 19.8% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 6,255 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $628,000 after acquiring an additional 1,034 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP raised its holdings in Ameren by 42.2% in the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 22,802 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,289,000 after acquiring an additional 6,772 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC lifted its position in Ameren by 3.3% during the second quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 9,406 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $903,000 after acquiring an additional 299 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AE Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Ameren by 9.5% during the second quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,511 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $337,000 after acquiring an additional 306 shares during the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on AEE. Wall Street Zen downgraded Ameren from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, February 21st. Argus raised Ameren to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Ameren from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and set a $116.00 price objective on shares of Ameren in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on Ameren from $111.00 to $104.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $113.30.

Ameren Stock Performance

NYSE AEE opened at $109.98 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.56. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $106.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $103.41. Ameren Corporation has a 1 year low of $91.77 and a 1 year high of $113.64.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.01. Ameren had a net margin of 16.55% and a return on equity of 10.69%. The business had revenue of $1.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.69 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.77 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Ameren Corporation will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This is an increase from Ameren's previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. Ameren's payout ratio is presently 56.07%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameren

In related news, insider Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.60, for a total transaction of $673,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 193,076 shares in the company, valued at $20,002,673.60. This represents a 3.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ameren Company Profile

Ameren Corporation NYSE: AEE is an integrated energy company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, that provides electric and natural gas delivery and related services in portions of Missouri and Illinois. The company operates regulated utility businesses that serve a broad mix of residential, commercial and industrial customers, and it participates in wholesale energy markets and transmission operations that support reliable service across its service territories.

Ameren's core activities include generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, distribution of natural gas, and the provision of customer energy solutions such as demand-side management and energy efficiency programs.

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