Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. Invests $499,000 in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 5,595 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $499,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AEE. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 489,935 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $42,849,000 after buying an additional 1,856 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ameren during the third quarter worth approximately $215,000. Tudor Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ameren in the third quarter valued at approximately $463,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of Ameren during the third quarter worth approximately $74,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Ameren by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 331,801 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,019,000 after purchasing an additional 19,217 shares during the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on AEE. Barclays decreased their price objective on Ameren from $102.00 to $101.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Ameren from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Ameren in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Ameren in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Ameren from $105.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $99.33.

Insider Activity at Ameren

In other news, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.27, for a total transaction of $266,901.32. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 14,495 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,424,423.65. This trade represents a 15.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.37, for a total value of $557,535.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,344 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,393,781.28. This represents a 11.26 % 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 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of AEE opened at $98.83 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $98.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $93.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.44. Ameren Co. has a one year low of $69.39 and a one year high of $104.10. The company has a market cap of $26.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.45.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 10.34% and a net margin of 15.51%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. Research analysts forecast 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 was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th were issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. 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. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.87%. Ameren’s payout ratio is 64.25%.

Ameren Company 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.