Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 29,537 Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. trimmed its holdings in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 90.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,220 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 29,537 shares during the quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Ameren were worth $233,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AEE. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors lifted its stake in Ameren by 23.9% in the fourth quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 9,702 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $702,000 after purchasing an additional 1,870 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ameren by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 693,556 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $50,172,000 after acquiring an additional 2,448 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in Ameren during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,150,000. Clarius Group LLC grew its position in Ameren by 17.8% during the 4th quarter. Clarius Group LLC now owns 3,749 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $271,000 after acquiring an additional 566 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Round Rock Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ameren in the 4th quarter worth approximately $687,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AEE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Ameren from $74.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Ameren in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $73.00 price objective on the stock. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Ameren from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. Bank of America raised their target price on Ameren from $77.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Ameren from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $79.40.

Ameren Stock Up 2.3 %

AEE stock opened at $71.93 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $19.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.65. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $71.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $73.50. Ameren Co. has a fifty-two week low of $67.03 and a fifty-two week high of $91.18.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by ($0.01). Ameren had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 15.36%. The firm had revenue of $1.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.63 EPS. Ameren’s revenue for the quarter was down 20.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Ameren Co. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 12th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.73%. This is a positive change from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. Ameren’s payout ratio is presently 61.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Mark C. Lindgren sold 1,630 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at $3,385,328.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Mark C. Lindgren sold 1,630 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $3,385,328.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Martin J. Lyons sold 7,270 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.70, for a total value of $513,989.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 246,434 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,422,883.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

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.