Swiss National Bank Trims Stock Position in Ameren Corporation $AEE

Key Points

• Swiss National Bank trimmed its stake in Ameren by 2.8% in Q3, selling 22,700 shares and holding 795,100 shares worth about $82.99 million (≈0.29% of the company) at the end of the period.
• Equity analysts have a consensus rating of "Hold" with a $113.30 price target (breakdown: 1 Strong Buy, 5 Buy, 6 Hold, 1 Sell), with recent target revisions from firms including Barclays, BMO, JPMorgan and Mizuho.
• Ameren increased its quarterly dividend to $0.75 (from $0.71), payable March 31 with an ex-dividend date of March 10, representing a $3.00 annualized payout and a 2.7% yield (DPR 53.08%).

Swiss National Bank reduced its position in Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE - Free Report) by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 795,100 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 22,700 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.29% of Ameren worth $82,993,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ameren by 3.7% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,582,578 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $3,417,351,000 after buying an additional 1,268,457 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Ameren by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,717,444 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,317,423,000 after buying an additional 297,386 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 2.7% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,242,392 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $692,794,000 after acquiring an additional 192,808 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ameren by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,223,010 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $597,673,000 after purchasing an additional 179,137 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Ameren by 9.3% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,090,957 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $488,936,000 after acquiring an additional 432,182 shares during the period. 79.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Ameren from $111.00 to $104.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Ameren from $112.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Ameren from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Argus raised Ameren to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, Mizuho set a $117.00 target price on Ameren in a research report on Friday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $113.30.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.60, for a total value of $673,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 193,076 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,002,673.60. The trade was a 3.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

Ameren Stock Down 0.7%

NYSE AEE opened at $110.38 on Wednesday. Ameren Corporation has a 1-year low of $91.77 and a 1-year high of $113.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. The stock's 50 day moving average is $105.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $103.33. The company has a market capitalization of $30.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.63, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.56.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.01. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.69% and a net margin of 16.55%.The business had revenue of $1.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.69 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.77 EPS. Ameren's quarterly revenue was down 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Ameren Corporation will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. This is a positive change from Ameren's previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. Ameren's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.08%.

About Ameren

Ameren Corporation NYSE: AEE is an integrated energy company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, that provides electric and natural gas delivery and related services in portions of Missouri and Illinois. The company operates regulated utility businesses that serve a broad mix of residential, commercial and industrial customers, and it participates in wholesale energy markets and transmission operations that support reliable service across its service territories.

Ameren's core activities include generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, distribution of natural gas, and the provision of customer energy solutions such as demand-side management and energy efficiency programs.

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