State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Has $9.44 Million Holdings in Ameren Corporation $AEE

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D increased its position in shares of Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) by 8.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 90,474 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,407 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Ameren were worth $9,444,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. NewSquare Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ameren by 70.9% in the 2nd quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 258 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the period. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Ameren by 6,040.0% during the second quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. now owns 307 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 302 shares during the last quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. acquired a new position in Ameren during the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. Addison Advisors LLC raised its stake in Ameren by 728.9% in the second quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 315 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 277 shares during the period. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 49.0% in the second quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 362 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ameren Price Performance

Ameren stock opened at $110.49 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $29.89 billion, a PE ratio of 20.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $102.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $102.30. Ameren Corporation has a one year low of $91.77 and a one year high of $112.66.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.69 billion. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.69% and a net margin of 16.55%.Ameren’s revenue was down 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.77 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Ameren Corporation will post 4.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This is a boost from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. Ameren’s payout ratio is currently 53.08%.

Insider Activity

In other Ameren news, insider Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.60, for a total transaction of $673,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 193,076 shares in the company, valued at $20,002,673.60. The trade was a 3.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AEE. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Ameren from $112.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Argus upgraded shares of Ameren to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ameren in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Mizuho set a $117.00 target price on shares of Ameren in a report on Friday. Finally, KeyCorp cut shares of Ameren from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ameren currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $111.30.

About Ameren

Ameren Corporation (NYSE: AEE) is an integrated energy company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, that provides electric and natural gas delivery and related services in portions of Missouri and Illinois. The company operates regulated utility businesses that serve a broad mix of residential, commercial and industrial customers, and it participates in wholesale energy markets and transmission operations that support reliable service across its service territories.

Ameren’s core activities include generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, distribution of natural gas, and the provision of customer energy solutions such as demand-side management and energy efficiency programs.