Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) Shares Purchased by DRW Securities LLC

DRW Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 98,300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 673 shares during the quarter. DRW Securities LLC’s holdings in Ameren were worth $8,762,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AEE. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Ameren in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Ameren during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new stake in Ameren during the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. lifted its position in Ameren by 134.5% during the 4th quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 544 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 312 shares during the period. Finally, Mather Group LLC. grew its stake in shares of Ameren by 86.2% in the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 540 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.37, for a total transaction of $557,535.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,344 shares in the company, valued at $4,393,781.28. This represents a 11.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now owns 57,486 shares in the company, valued at $5,966,471.94. The trade was a 7.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,959 shares of company stock valued at $1,316,712 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:AEE opened at $94.19 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $98.26 and a 200-day moving average of $92.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The firm has a market cap of $25.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.31, 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.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by ($0.06). Ameren had a return on equity of 10.34% and a net margin of 15.51%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 earnings per share 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 11th. This is a positive change from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is 64.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on AEE. Evercore ISI raised shares of Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Ameren from $102.00 to $101.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Ameren from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, UBS Group lifted 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $96.60.

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.