Penserra Capital Management LLC Raises Stake in Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE)

Penserra Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE - Free Report) by 1,135.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,648 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying 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 filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AEE. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its stake in shares of Ameren by 1,732.4% in the 4th 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 boosted its stake in shares of Ameren by 96.5% in the 4th 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. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ameren by 16.7% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 17,038,754 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,518,835,000 after buying an additional 2,439,811 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Ameren by 116.0% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,357,876 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $210,181,000 after buying an additional 1,266,051 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ameren by 76.7% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,134,288 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $190,250,000 after buying an additional 926,126 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.09% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AEE. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $114.00 target price (up previously from $113.00) on shares of Ameren in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Ameren from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Ameren from $102.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Ameren from $104.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Ameren from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $101.27.

Ameren Stock Performance

Shares of Ameren stock traded down $0.30 during trading on Friday, reaching $95.99. The company's stock had a trading volume of 390,674 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,769,658. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $96.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $96.22. Ameren Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $72.33 and a fifty-two week high of $104.10. 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 firm has a market cap of $25.94 billion, a PE ratio of 21.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 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 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $2.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Ameren Corporation will post 4.93 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 10th were given a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 10th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.96%. Ameren's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.97%.

Ameren Company 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.