ProShare Advisors LLC Increases Position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE - Free Report) by 14.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 40,434 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 4,988 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC's holdings in Ameren were worth $3,604,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew 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 purchasing an additional 2,901,047 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Ameren by 96.5% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,170,709 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $460,917,000 after purchasing an additional 2,539,129 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 16.7% during 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 purchasing an additional 2,439,811 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its position in 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 last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its position in 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 last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.09% of the company's stock.

Ameren Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of Ameren stock opened at $98.83 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $98.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $95.01. The stock has a market cap of $26.71 billion, a PE ratio of 22.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.51. 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 12-month low of $69.39 and a 12-month high of $104.10.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $2.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.92 billion. Ameren had a net margin of 15.51% and a return on equity of 10.34%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 10th. Ameren's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ameren news, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.27, for a total transaction of $266,901.32. Following the sale, the director now owns 14,495 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,424,423.65. This represents a 15.78% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.37, for a total value of $557,535.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,344 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,393,781.28. The trade was a 11.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,959 shares of company stock worth $1,316,712 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on AEE shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Ameren from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research 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 report on Wednesday, May 14th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Ameren in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Ameren from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised Ameren from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price target for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ameren has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $101.80.

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.

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