Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) Shares Bought by Penserra Capital Management LLC

Penserra Capital Management LLC increased its position in Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE - Free Report) by 1,135.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,648 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 7,948 shares during the quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC's holdings in Ameren were worth $867,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Ameren by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 27,048,729 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,411,125,000 after buying an additional 392,170 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Ameren by 16.7% in 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 acquiring an additional 2,439,811 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,749,446 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $600,157,000 after purchasing an additional 77,282 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Ameren by 96.5% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,170,709 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $460,917,000 after buying an additional 2,539,129 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in Ameren by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,601,449 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $410,174,000 after buying an additional 39,455 shares in the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AEE. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Ameren from $102.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. KeyCorp raised shares of Ameren from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $103.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Ameren in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Ameren from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Five 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $101.27.

Ameren Price Performance

Shares of AEE stock traded up $0.99 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $96.19. The company had a trading volume of 1,785,808 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,575,282. Ameren Corporation has a 12-month low of $70.88 and a 12-month high of $104.10. The company has a market capitalization of $26.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.33, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.86. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $96.29 and a 200-day moving average of $96.17.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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 return on equity of 10.40% and a net margin of 15.31%. The firm had revenue of $2.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.92 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. Ameren's revenue for the quarter was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Ameren Corporation will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 10th were given a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 10th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.95%. Ameren's 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.