Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) Shares Acquired by Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Key Points

• Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Ameren Corporation by 5.8%, now owning 86,828 shares valued at $8.7 million.
• Ameren reported $1.01 earnings per share, exceeding the consensus estimate of $1.00, with revenues reaching $2.22 billion—a 31.2% increase year-over-year.
• Ameren declared a quarterly dividend of $0.71 per share, translating to an annual yield of 2.8%, with a current payout ratio of 62.42%.

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE - Free Report) by 5.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 86,828 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 4,792 shares during the period. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Ameren were worth $8,709,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,314,121 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,445,138,000 after purchasing an additional 979,928 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 1.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 392,170 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its position 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 worth $1,518,835,000 after purchasing an additional 2,439,811 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 16.1% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,658,775 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $467,741,000 after purchasing an additional 646,000 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,601,449 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $410,174,000 after purchasing an additional 39,455 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.09% of the company's stock.

Ameren Stock Performance

NYSE:AEE traded down $0.83 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $100.60. 1,905,603 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,438,296. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.11, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.45. Ameren Corporation has a 52-week low of $81.31 and a 52-week high of $104.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.56. The company's 50 day moving average price is $97.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $97.87.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. Ameren had a net margin of 14.55% and a return on equity of 10.38%. Ameren's revenue was up 31.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.97 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ameren Corporation will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. Ameren's payout ratio is 62.42%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AEE shares. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Ameren from $104.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. 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 report on Monday, May 5th. KeyCorp set a $104.00 price objective on shares of Ameren and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. 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 research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Ameren in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $101.36.

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.