Ameren Corporation $AEE Shares Sold by Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V.

Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. reduced its position in Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) by 12.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 42,900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 6,300 shares during the period. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V.’s holdings in Ameren were worth $4,284,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AEE. Allstate Corp purchased a new position in Ameren during the third quarter worth about $1,050,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in Ameren in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,097,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Ameren by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,787,278 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $186,556,000 after buying an additional 79,763 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ameren by 119.0% during the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 77,315 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,070,000 after acquiring an additional 42,004 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SteelPeak Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ameren during the 3rd quarter worth about $3,102,000. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on AEE shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Ameren from $112.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ameren in a research note on Monday, December 29th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Ameren from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley set a $116.00 price objective on shares of Ameren in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Ameren from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $113.45.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameren

In related news, insider Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were 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 approximately $20,002,673.60. This represents a 3.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:AEE opened at $111.71 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $108.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $104.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.88, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.52. Ameren Corporation has a 1 year low of $91.77 and a 1 year high of $113.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.66.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.01. The firm 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%. Ameren’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.77 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Ameren Corporation will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 10th. This is a positive change from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.