KBC Group NV Buys 5,356 Shares of Ameren Corporation $AEE

KBC Group NV lifted its stake in shares of Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) by 18.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 34,495 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,356 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Ameren were worth $3,792,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Ameren by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,645,555 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,559,565,000 after purchasing an additional 495,945 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 15,885,476 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,586,324,000 after buying an additional 362,052 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Ameren by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,503,721 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,448,342,000 after buying an additional 457,876 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Ameren by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,223,010 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $597,673,000 after buying an additional 179,137 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Ameren by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,290,191 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $528,278,000 after buying an additional 149,952 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on AEE shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Ameren from $126.00 to $137.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of Ameren in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Ameren from $121.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Ameren from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, KeyCorp raised shares of Ameren from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $122.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $121.50.

Ameren Stock Up 1.1%

NYSE:AEE opened at $113.28 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $110.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $109.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.62. Ameren Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $96.57 and a fifty-two week high of $118.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.47.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.11. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.94% and a net margin of 17.17%.The company had revenue of $2.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.07 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Ameren has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.250-5.450 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Ameren Corporation will post 5.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.96%.

Insider Activity

In other Ameren news, SVP Theresa A. Shaw sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.35, for a total value of $164,025.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 32,943 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,602,317.05. This trade represents a 4.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Company Profile

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.