NorthRock Partners LLC Acquires 2,592 Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

NorthRock Partners LLC boosted its position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 83.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,699 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,592 shares during the period. NorthRock Partners LLC’s holdings in Ameren were worth $508,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Ameren by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 27,048,729 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,411,125,000 after acquiring an additional 392,170 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Ameren by 16.7% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 17,038,754 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,518,835,000 after acquiring an additional 2,439,811 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ameren by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,749,446 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $600,157,000 after acquiring an additional 77,282 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 2,539,129 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in Ameren by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,601,449 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $410,174,000 after acquiring an additional 39,455 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ameren

In related news, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.79, for a total value of $492,275.97. Following the sale, the insider now owns 57,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,966,471.94. This trade represents a 7.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of Ameren 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,344 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,393,781.28. This represents a 11.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 12,959 shares of company stock valued at $1,316,712 over the last 90 days. 0.42% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI upgraded Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. KeyCorp raised Ameren from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $103.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Ameren in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group increased their target price on Ameren from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Ameren from $101.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ameren presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $101.80.

Ameren Trading Up 1.2%

NYSE AEE opened at $97.99 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $26.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.51. 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 50-day moving average is $98.19 and its 200-day moving average is $94.81. Ameren Co. has a one year low of $69.39 and a one year high of $104.10.

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

Ameren Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 10th will be given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 10th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.97%.

Ameren 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.