Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. Decreases Position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. trimmed its holdings in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,478 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 413 shares during the period. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co.’s holdings in Ameren were worth $1,145,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AEE. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 100,874.2% during 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 acquiring an additional 74,200,015 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Ameren by 22.9% in the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 2,200,700 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Ameren by 8.0% in the first 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 in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Ameren by 7,133.8% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 960,286 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $694,670,000 after buying an additional 947,011 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Ameren by 2.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,978,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,810,808,000 after buying an additional 681,658 shares during the period. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Ameren

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

Ameren Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:AEE traded down $0.12 during trading on Thursday, reaching $71.81. 70,429 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,764,969. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $71.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $73.50. Ameren Co. has a 52-week low of $67.03 and a 52-week high of $91.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.65. The stock has a market cap of $19.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.44.

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

Ameren Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.73%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 12th. This is a boost from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 61.33%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on AEE shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ameren from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Ameren from $77.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Ameren from $74.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Ameren from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Ameren in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $73.00 price target for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $79.40.

About Ameren

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.