Energy Income Partners LLC Takes $66.50 Million Position in Ameren Corporation $AEE

Energy Income Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 588,272 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $66,498,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,645,555 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,559,565,000 after purchasing an additional 495,945 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Ameren in the 2nd quarter worth about $2,918,526,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 362,052 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in 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 during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in 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 during the period. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on AEE shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Ameren from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Ameren from $122.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Ameren from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. KeyCorp raised shares of Ameren from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $122.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, BTIG Research set a $126.00 target price on Ameren in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $121.75.

Ameren Stock Performance

AEE stock opened at $109.75 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $111.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $110.15. Ameren Corporation has a 52 week low of $96.57 and a 52 week high of $118.32. The stock has a market cap of $30.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.53.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.05. Ameren had a net margin of 17.86% and a return on equity of 10.95%. The firm had revenue of $2.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.27 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.01 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Ameren has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.250-5.450 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Ameren Corporation will post 5.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.82%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.96, for a total value of $708,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 199,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,758,113.44. The trade was a 3.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Theresa A. Shaw sold 325 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.93, for a total transaction of $35,402.25. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 32,340 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,522,796.20. The trade was a 0.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

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.