Ameren Corporation $AEE Shares Acquired by First Trust Advisors LP

First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) by 3.1% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 930,807 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 28,276 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Ameren were worth $97,158,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. acquired a new position in Ameren in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Ameren by 6,040.0% during the second quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. now owns 307 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 302 shares during the period. Addison Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Ameren by 728.9% during the second quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 315 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 277 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its position in shares of Ameren by 30.9% during the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 474 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ameren in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $54,000. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ameren Trading Down 0.3%

NYSE AEE opened at $111.17 on Tuesday. Ameren Corporation has a 52 week low of $91.77 and a 52 week high of $113.64. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $105.69 and a two-hundred day moving average of $103.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.73 billion, a PE ratio of 20.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.56.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.69 billion. Ameren had a net margin of 16.55% and a return on equity of 10.69%. The company’s revenue was down 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.77 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Ameren Corporation will post 4.93 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a $0.75 dividend. This is a boost from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. Ameren’s payout ratio is 53.08%.

Insider Transactions at Ameren

In other Ameren news, insider Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider directly owned 193,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,002,673.60. The trade was a 3.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AEE. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Ameren from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 21st. KeyCorp lowered Ameren from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley set a $116.00 price target on Ameren in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Mizuho set a $117.00 price target on Ameren in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Ameren from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $113.30.

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.