Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH Makes New $10.90 Million Investment in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH bought a new stake in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 122,289 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $10,901,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AEE. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 1,732.4% during the fourth 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 lifted its holdings 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 valued at $460,917,000 after purchasing an additional 2,539,129 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 2,439,811 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in Ameren by 116.0% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,357,876 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $210,181,000 after acquiring an additional 1,266,051 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in Ameren by 76.7% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,134,288 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $190,250,000 after acquiring an additional 926,126 shares in the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ameren Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of NYSE AEE traded down $1.39 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $95.30. 1,106,931 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,562,652. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market cap of $25.76 billion, a PE ratio of 21.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.51. The company's fifty day moving average is $97.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $95.33. Ameren Co. has a fifty-two week low of $69.39 and a fifty-two week high of $104.10.

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

Ameren Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 10th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.98%. Ameren's payout ratio is 62.97%.

Insider Activity at Ameren

In related news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.37, for a total transaction of $557,535.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 43,344 shares in the company, valued at $4,393,781.28. This represents a 11.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.79, for a total value of $492,275.97. Following the sale, the insider now owns 57,486 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,966,471.94. The trade was a 7.62% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.42% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley set a $102.00 target price on Ameren and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Ameren from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. UBS Group upped their target price on Ameren from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. KeyCorp raised Ameren from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $103.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped 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. Four 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $101.90.

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.