Smith Graham & Co. Investment Advisors LP Lowers Holdings in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Smith Graham & Co. Investment Advisors LP cut its holdings in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 9.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,790 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,230 shares during the period. Smith Graham & Co. Investment Advisors LP’s holdings in Ameren were worth $1,576,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AEE. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Ameren by 100,874.2% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 74,273,572 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,604,406,000 after purchasing an additional 74,200,015 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Ameren by 22.9% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,824,707 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,051,453,000 after purchasing an additional 2,200,700 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Ameren by 8.0% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,889,994 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,302,326,000 after acquiring an additional 1,029,187 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Ameren by 7,133.8% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 960,286 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $694,670,000 after acquiring an additional 947,011 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Ameren by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,978,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,810,808,000 after acquiring an additional 681,658 shares during the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ameren Stock Performance

Shares of Ameren stock opened at $71.74 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $71.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $73.60. The company has a market capitalization of $19.12 billion, a PE ratio of 16.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. Ameren Co. has a 52 week low of $67.03 and a 52 week high of $91.18.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.61 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $1.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.03 billion. Ameren had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 10.42%. The business’s revenue was down 20.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.63 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Ameren Co. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were given a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.74%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 12th. This is an increase from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is 61.33%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays lifted their price objective on Ameren from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. KeyCorp downgraded Ameren from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 15th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Ameren from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Ameren from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI downgraded Ameren from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, December 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ameren presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $79.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ameren news, EVP Mark C. Lindgren sold 1,630 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.70, for a total value of $115,241.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 47,883 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,385,328.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Ameren news, CEO Martin J. Lyons sold 7,270 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.70, for a total value of $513,989.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 246,434 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,422,883.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Mark C. Lindgren sold 1,630 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.70, for a total value of $115,241.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 47,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,385,328.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

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.