Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC Buys Shares of 11,898 Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 11,898 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,061,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of AEE. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 1,732.4% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 3,068,505 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $273,527,000 after purchasing an additional 2,901,047 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 96.5% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,170,709 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $460,917,000 after purchasing an additional 2,539,129 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Ameren by 16.7% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 17,038,754 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,518,835,000 after buying an additional 2,439,811 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its holdings in Ameren by 116.0% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,357,876 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $210,181,000 after buying an additional 1,266,051 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in Ameren by 76.7% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,134,288 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $190,250,000 after buying an additional 926,126 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Price Performance

NYSE AEE opened at $96.80 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.44. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $98.19 and its 200 day moving average price is $94.73. Ameren Co. has a 1 year low of $69.39 and a 1 year high of $104.10. The company has a market cap of $26.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.90, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.51.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.01). Ameren had a net margin of 15.51% and a return on equity of 10.34%. The firm had revenue of $2.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.92 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. Ameren’s revenue was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 10th will be issued a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.93%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 10th. Ameren’s payout ratio is 62.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameren

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AEE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Ameren from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. KeyCorp upgraded Ameren from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $103.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday. Barclays upped their target price on Ameren from $101.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Ameren from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Ameren in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $101.80.

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.