Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) Shares Bought by Magellan Asset Management Ltd

Magellan Asset Management Ltd increased its stake in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 10.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 206,004 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 18,976 shares during the quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd owned approximately 0.08% of Ameren worth $16,824,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Ameren by 100,874.2% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 74,273,572 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,604,406,000 after purchasing an additional 74,200,015 shares in the last quarter. Putnam Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Ameren by 133.8% in the first quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 4,990,519 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $431,131,000 after acquiring an additional 2,855,894 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ameren by 22.9% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,824,707 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,051,453,000 after acquiring an additional 2,200,700 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 8.0% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,889,994 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,302,326,000 after acquiring an additional 1,029,187 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Ameren by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,978,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,810,808,000 after purchasing an additional 681,658 shares during the period. 77.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ameren Stock Down 0.6 %

AEE traded down $0.43 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $76.39. 193,980 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,419,155. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.33. The company has a market cap of $20.09 billion, a PE ratio of 17.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.47. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $77.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $80.75. Ameren Co. has a one year low of $69.71 and a one year high of $92.43.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 9th. The utilities provider reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.80 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.40 billion. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.67% and a net margin of 14.59%. The business’s revenue was down 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.74 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ameren Co. will post 4.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.63 per share. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 12th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is currently 57.27%.

Insider Activity at Ameren

In other Ameren news, CFO Michael L. Moehn sold 3,155 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.63, for a total transaction of $251,232.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 161,369 shares in the company, valued at $12,849,813.47. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Michael L. Moehn sold 3,155 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.63, for a total value of $251,232.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 161,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,849,813.47. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Michael L. Moehn sold 3,244 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.28, for a total transaction of $250,696.32. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 198,937 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,373,851.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Ameren from $80.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Ameren from $94.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 16th. StockNews.com raised Ameren from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Mizuho dropped their target price on Ameren from $87.00 to $82.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Ameren from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $87.11.

Ameren Profile

Ameren Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a public utility holding company in the United States. The company operates through four segments: Ameren Missouri, Ameren Illinois Electric Distribution, Ameren Illinois Natural Gas, and Ameren Transmission. It engages in the rate-regulated electric generation, transmission, and distribution activities; and rate-regulated natural gas distribution and transmission businesses.