New York State Common Retirement Fund lowered its holdings in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE - Free Report) by 14.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 163,398 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 27,475 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.06% of Ameren worth $11,820,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AEE. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ameren by 7,133.8% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 960,286 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $694,670,000 after purchasing an additional 947,011 shares during the period. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Ameren by 105.0% in the 3rd quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 1,289,754 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $96,512,000 after buying an additional 660,654 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its position in shares of Ameren by 30.4% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 2,286,264 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $171,081,000 after buying an additional 532,800 shares in the last quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC increased its position in Ameren by 1,770.6% during the 3rd quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 355,416 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $26,596,000 after purchasing an additional 336,416 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG increased its position in Ameren by 180.0% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 521,680 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $39,037,000 after purchasing an additional 335,398 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company's stock.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several brokerages have issued reports on AEE. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Ameren from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Ameren in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued a "sell" rating and a $73.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ameren from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Ameren from $77.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Ameren from $74.00 to $73.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $79.40.
View Our Latest Analysis on Ameren
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other news, 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 246,434 shares in the company, valued at $17,422,883.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 246,434 shares in the company, valued at $17,422,883.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 47,883 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,385,328.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company's stock.
Ameren Stock Up 0.8 %
NYSE:AEE traded up $0.62 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $74.49. The company had a trading volume of 1,554,208 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,725,891. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The firm has a market cap of $19.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.44. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $72.55 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $73.44. Ameren Co. has a twelve month low of $67.03 and a twelve month high of $90.72.
Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.61 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $1.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.03 billion. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 15.36%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 20.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.63 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Ameren Co. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current year.
Ameren Increases Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.60%. This is a boost from Ameren's previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 12th. Ameren's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.33%.
About Ameren
(
Free Report)
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.
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