Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) Shares Sold by Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA reduced its stake in shares of Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE - Free Report) by 16.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,611,353 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 313,849 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned approximately 0.60% of Ameren worth $161,780,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Ameren during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. ORG Partners LLC grew its position in Ameren by 74.5% during the first quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 349 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 149 shares during the period. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new position in Ameren during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Ameren by 586.9% in the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 419 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 358 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Optiver Holding B.V. boosted its position in shares of Ameren by 78.7% in the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 470 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AEE has been the topic of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Ameren in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group set a $114.00 price objective on shares of Ameren and gave the stock 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 on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Ameren from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their target price for the company from $91.00 to $100.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ameren presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $101.36.

Ameren Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE AEE traded up $0.62 on Thursday, reaching $97.47. 626,857 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,582,318. Ameren Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $74.11 and a fifty-two week high of $104.10. The company has a 50 day moving average of $95.99 and a 200 day moving average of $96.37. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.34 billion, a PE ratio of 21.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.48.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.01). Ameren had a net margin of 15.31% and a return on equity of 10.40%. The company had revenue of $2.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. The company's revenue was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Ameren Corporation will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 10th were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 10th. Ameren's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.97%.

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.