Securian Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE – Get Rating) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,252 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 426 shares during the quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Ameren were worth $1,890,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AEE. Penserra Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Ameren in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. CI Investments Inc. increased its position in shares of Ameren by 1,006.5% in the third quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 343 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 312 shares in the last quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ameren during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Concord Wealth Partners purchased a new stake in shares of Ameren in the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, GoalVest Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Ameren in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.42% of the company’s stock.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
Several research firms have recently commented on AEE. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Ameren from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 10th. StockNews.com began coverage on Ameren in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Ameren from $102.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 19th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Ameren from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Guggenheim downgraded shares of Ameren from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $84.00 to $89.00 in a report on Monday, January 23rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.45.
Insider Activity
Ameren Stock Up 0.5 %
Shares of NYSE:AEE opened at $89.96 on Monday. Ameren Co. has a 1 year low of $73.28 and a 1 year high of $97.99. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $85.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $85.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.73, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.43.
Ameren (NYSE:AEE – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.07. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.50% and a net margin of 13.50%. The company had revenue of $2.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.15 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.48 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 32.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Ameren Co. will post 4.35 earnings per share for the current year.
Ameren Increases Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.63 per share. This is a positive change from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 14th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is currently 60.87%.
Ameren Profile
Ameren Corp. is a public utility holding company, which engages in the provision of electric and natural gas services. It operates through the following segments: Ameren Missouri, Ameren Illinois Electric Distribution, Ameren Illinois Natural Gas, Ameren Transmission, and Other. The Ameren Transmission segment consists of the aggregated electric transmission businesses of Ameren Illinois and Ameren Transmission Company of Illinois (ATXI).
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