International Assets Investment Management LLC Has $694.67 Million Position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE - Free Report) by 7,133.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 960,286 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 947,011 shares during the quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC owned 0.37% of Ameren worth $694,670,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Colony Group LLC increased its stake in Ameren by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Colony Group LLC now owns 3,405 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $294,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the period. Kestra Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Ameren by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 6,943 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $567,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its stake in Ameren by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 18,055 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,475,000 after buying an additional 131 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Ameren by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,928 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $512,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the period. Finally, BOS Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Ameren by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. BOS Asset Management LLC now owns 2,991 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $244,000 after buying an additional 141 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.09% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Ameren

In related news, EVP Mark C. Lindgren sold 1,630 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.70, for a total transaction of $115,241.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 47,883 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,385,328.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Mark C. Lindgren sold 1,630 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.70, for a total transaction of $115,241.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 47,883 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,385,328.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Martin J. Lyons sold 7,270 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.70, for a total transaction of $513,989.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 246,434 shares of the company's stock, valued at $17,422,883.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.42% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on AEE shares. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Ameren from an "outperform" rating to an "in-line" rating in a research note on Friday, December 15th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Ameren from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ameren from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Ameren from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, December 18th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Ameren from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $80.11.

Ameren Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AEE traded down $0.18 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $72.71. 1,584,736 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,473,120. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The company's 50 day moving average is $71.19 and its 200 day moving average is $73.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.44. Ameren Co. has a one year low of $67.03 and a one year high of $91.18.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.61 by ($0.01). Ameren had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 10.42%. The company had revenue of $1.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.03 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.63 earnings per share. Ameren's revenue for the quarter was down 20.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Ameren Co. will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.69%. This is an increase from Ameren's previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 12th. Ameren's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.33%.

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.