Three Seasons Wealth LLC Purchases Shares of 6,310 Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Three Seasons Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 6,310 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $562,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AEE. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ameren during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ameren during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ameren during the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ameren by 134.5% during the fourth quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 544 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 312 shares during the period. Finally, Mather Group LLC. increased its stake in shares of Ameren by 86.2% during the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 540 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the period. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ameren Stock Performance

NYSE AEE traded down $0.42 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $98.79. The company's stock had a trading volume of 383,203 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,581,718. 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 firm has a market cap of $26.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.45. Ameren Co. has a twelve month low of $69.39 and a twelve month high of $104.10. The business's fifty day moving average price is $98.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $93.99.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.83 by ($0.06). Ameren had a net margin of 15.51% and a return on equity of 10.34%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.87%. This is a positive change from Ameren's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 11th. Ameren's payout ratio is 64.25%.

Insider Transactions at Ameren

In other news, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.27, for a total transaction of $266,901.32. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,495 shares in the company, valued at $1,424,423.65. The trade was a 15.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.79, for a total transaction of $492,275.97. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 57,486 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,966,471.94. This trade represents a 7.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 12,959 shares of company stock worth $1,316,712 over the last ninety days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on AEE shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Ameren from $105.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday. Evercore ISI raised shares of Ameren from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their target price for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Guggenheim reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Ameren in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Ameren from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Ameren in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $99.33.

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.