OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp Has $982,000 Stock Holdings in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp lessened its stake in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE - Free Report) by 28.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 11,011 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 4,314 shares during the quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp's holdings in Ameren were worth $982,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AEE. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Ameren by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 489,935 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $42,849,000 after buying an additional 1,856 shares during the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc lifted its stake in shares of Ameren by 17.6% during the 4th quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 1,448 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $129,000 after buying an additional 217 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ameren by 24.7% during the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 4,594 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $410,000 after buying an additional 910 shares during the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ameren by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 19,353 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,725,000 after buying an additional 1,177 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ameren by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 42,680 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,804,000 after buying an additional 1,100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.09% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AEE has been the subject of a number of research reports. Guggenheim restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Ameren in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley set a $102.00 price objective on shares of Ameren and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $101.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $101.90.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameren

In other Ameren news, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.79, for a total value of $492,275.97. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 57,486 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,966,471.94. This trade represents a 7.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.37, for a total transaction of $557,535.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,344 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,393,781.28. This represents a 11.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.42% of the company's stock.

Ameren Price Performance

AEE stock traded up $0.93 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $96.33. The stock had a trading volume of 1,451,852 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,566,153. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. Ameren Co. has a 52 week low of $69.39 and a 52 week high of $104.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.51. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $98.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $95.17.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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 net margin of 15.51% and a return on equity of 10.34%. The firm had revenue of $2.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. Ameren's quarterly revenue was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 10th will be issued a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.95%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 10th. Ameren's dividend payout ratio 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.