JPMorgan Chase & Co. Boosts Holdings in Ameren Corporation $AEE

JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) by 68.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,080,775 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,661,019 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Ameren were worth $425,951,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC increased its position in Ameren by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 7,105 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $682,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Segment Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ameren by 3.6% during the third quarter. Segment Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,941 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $307,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC raised its position 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 last quarter. Keb Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Ameren by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Keb Asset Management LLC now owns 12,568 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,312,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LVW Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Ameren by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. LVW Advisors LLC now owns 2,921 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $305,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider directly owned 193,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,002,673.60. This represents a 3.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ameren Stock Performance

NYSE AEE opened at $108.38 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.26, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.57. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $102.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $102.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.66. Ameren Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $91.77 and a fifty-two week high of $112.65.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last issued its 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 firm had revenue of $1.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.69 billion. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.69% and a net margin of 16.55%.The company’s revenue was down 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.77 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ameren Corporation will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 positive change 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Ameren’s payout ratio is presently 53.08%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $108.00 price target on shares of Ameren in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Ameren from $112.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Argus upgraded Ameren to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Ameren from $121.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ameren in a report on Monday, December 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ameren presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.