HighTower Advisors LLC Buys 10,995 Shares of Ameren Corporation $AEE

HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) by 34.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 43,269 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,995 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ameren were worth $4,516,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Ameren by 3.7% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,582,578 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,417,351,000 after purchasing an additional 1,268,457 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Ameren by 89.4% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,419,756 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $232,393,000 after buying an additional 1,141,978 shares during the period. Homestead Advisers Corp bought a new stake in Ameren in the 3rd quarter valued at about $76,614,000. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. raised its stake in Ameren by 112.4% during the 3rd quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 964,012 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $100,624,000 after buying an additional 510,192 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Ameren by 9.3% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,090,957 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $488,936,000 after buying an additional 432,182 shares during the period. 79.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ameren in a report on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Ameren from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Ameren from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Ameren from $111.00 to $104.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $116.00 price objective on shares of Ameren in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ameren presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $113.30.

Insider Activity at Ameren

In other news, insider Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.60, for a total value of $673,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 193,076 shares in the company, valued at $20,002,673.60. The trade was a 3.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ameren Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE AEE opened at $111.22 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $103.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $102.58. Ameren Corporation has a 12 month low of $91.77 and a 12 month high of $112.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.79, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.57.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.69 billion. Ameren had a net margin of 16.55% and a return on equity of 10.69%. The business’s revenue was down 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.77 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Ameren Corporation will post 4.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This is a positive change from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.08%.

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.