Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Has $56.75 Million Stake in Ameren Corporation $AEE

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) by 5.3% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 543,726 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 27,461 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Ameren were worth $56,754,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Allstate Corp acquired a new position in shares of Ameren in the third quarter worth $1,050,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Ameren by 4.7% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,787,278 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $186,556,000 after purchasing an additional 79,763 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in Ameren in the third quarter valued at about $1,097,000. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System increased its position in Ameren by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 255,152 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $24,505,000 after purchasing an additional 2,750 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ameren by 119.0% during the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 77,315 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,070,000 after purchasing an additional 42,004 shares in the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Ameren

In other news, insider Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the company’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 transaction of $673,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 193,076 shares in the company, valued at $20,002,673.60. The trade was a 3.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on AEE. UBS Group boosted their price target on Ameren from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Mizuho set a $117.00 target price on shares of Ameren in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Ameren from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 21st. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Ameren from $111.00 to $104.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Ameren to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $113.30.

Ameren Stock Up 1.0%

Ameren stock opened at $113.17 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.46. Ameren Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $91.77 and a fifty-two week high of $113.44. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $104.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $102.80. The firm has a market cap of $31.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.57.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.01. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.69% and a net margin of 16.55%.The business had revenue of $1.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.69 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.77 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Ameren Corporation will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. This is an increase from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.