Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Raises Stake in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its stake in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 120,179 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,938 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Ameren were worth $10,713,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,139,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,149,221,000 after purchasing an additional 334,752 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,672,164 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $581,661,000 after purchasing an additional 127,287 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in Ameren by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,561,994 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $398,992,000 after buying an additional 39,300 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in Ameren by 59.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,631,580 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $230,158,000 after buying an additional 984,879 shares during the period. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its stake in Ameren by 26.1% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 2,318,537 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $202,779,000 after buying an additional 479,668 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Stock Performance

Ameren stock opened at $100.13 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $96.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $91.28. Ameren Co. has a fifty-two week low of $69.39 and a fifty-two week high of $104.10. The company has a market capitalization of $27.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.65, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.66.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 period last year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.84%. This is an increase from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays lifted their target price on Ameren from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Ameren from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ameren has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $93.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.27, for a total value of $266,901.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 14,495 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,424,423.65. This represents a 15.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.79, for a total transaction of $492,275.97. Following the sale, the insider now owns 57,486 shares in the company, valued at $5,966,471.94. This represents a 7.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 12,959 shares of company stock valued at $1,316,712. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.