Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Raises Holdings in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its stake in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE - Free Report) by 14.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 193,008 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 24,766 shares during the quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. owned approximately 0.07% of Ameren worth $17,205,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AEE. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its holdings in shares of Ameren by 1,732.4% during 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 in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Ameren by 96.5% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Ameren by 16.7% in 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 acquiring an additional 2,439,811 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Ameren by 116.0% during 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, HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ameren by 361.9% during the 4th quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC now owns 802,696 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $71,552,000 after acquiring an additional 628,925 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.09% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

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

Ameren Price Performance

Shares of Ameren stock traded up $1.17 on Friday, hitting $97.99. 1,254,623 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,574,348. Ameren Co. has a 1-year low of $69.39 and a 1-year high of $104.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $98.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $94.73.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.01). The company 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 firm's quarterly revenue was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 10th will be given a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 10th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.90%. Ameren's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.97%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on AEE shares. Barclays upped their price target on Ameren from $101.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Ameren in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Ameren from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Ameren from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded shares of 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $101.80.

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.