RFG Bristol Wealth Advisors LLC Acquires New Position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

RFG Bristol Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 7,805 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $696,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Ameren by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,846 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $165,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC grew its position in shares of Ameren by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 4,786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in Ameren by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 6,276 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $559,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. lifted its position in Ameren by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 9,937 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $886,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the period. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its stake in Ameren by 16.3% in the 4th quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 980 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $87,000 after buying an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ameren Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of Ameren stock opened at $100.66 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $97.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $92.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. Ameren Co. has a twelve month low of $69.39 and a twelve month high of $104.10. The stock has a market cap of $27.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.48.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.83 by ($0.06). Ameren had a return on equity of 10.34% and a net margin of 15.51%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.82%. This is a positive change from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.25%.

Insider Transactions at Ameren

In other Ameren news, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.79, for a total value of $492,275.97. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 57,486 shares in the company, valued at $5,966,471.94. The trade was a 7.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.37, for a total transaction of $557,535.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,344 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,393,781.28. The trade was a 11.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 12,959 shares of company stock valued at $1,316,712. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Ameren from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Ameren from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ameren presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $96.70.

About Ameren

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 business.