Ameren Corporation $AEE Position Boosted by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 35,645,555 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 495,945 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 0.13% of Ameren worth $3,559,565,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Allstate Corp bought a new position in Ameren in the third quarter worth about $1,050,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in Ameren in the third quarter worth about $1,097,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings 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 worth $186,556,000 after acquiring an additional 79,763 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its holdings in Ameren by 119.0% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 77,315 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,070,000 after acquiring an additional 42,004 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SteelPeak Wealth LLC bought a new position in Ameren in the third quarter worth about $3,102,000. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ameren

In related news, insider Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 193,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,002,673.60. This represents a 3.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on AEE shares. Mizuho set a $117.00 target price on shares of Ameren in a report on Friday, February 13th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ameren from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Ameren from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $120.00 target price on shares of Ameren in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Ameren from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $117.31.

Ameren Stock Performance

Shares of AEE stock opened at $112.22 on Wednesday. Ameren Corporation has a 12-month low of $93.27 and a 12-month high of $115.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.52. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $110.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $105.70. 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 (NYSE:AEE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share (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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.69 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.77 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Ameren Corporation will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th were issued a $0.75 dividend. This is a positive change from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.07%.

Ameren 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.