Zimmer Partners LP Sells 1,927,174 Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Zimmer Partners LP trimmed its position in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 65.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,033,219 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,927,174 shares during the quarter. Ameren comprises 1.6% of Zimmer Partners LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Zimmer Partners LP’s holdings in Ameren were worth $92,101,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ameren during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Ameren during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in Ameren in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new stake in Ameren in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Optiver Holding B.V. lifted its position in Ameren by 78.7% in the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 470 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on AEE shares. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Ameren in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $101.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ameren has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $101.80.

Insider Transactions at Ameren

In other news, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.27, for a total transaction of $266,901.32. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,495 shares in the company, valued at $1,424,423.65. The trade was a 15.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was 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. This represents a 7.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,959 shares of company stock worth $1,316,712 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of AEE stock opened at $98.83 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. Ameren Co. has a 1 year low of $69.39 and a 1 year high of $104.10. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $98.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $95.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.36, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.51.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last issued its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $2.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.92 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 10th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.87%. Ameren’s payout ratio is currently 62.97%.

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.