Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) Shares Sold by Intech Investment Management LLC

Intech Investment Management LLC trimmed its position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 20.5% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 31,342 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 8,079 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Ameren were worth $2,741,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AEE. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its position in shares of Ameren by 27.3% during the 3rd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 9,756 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $853,000 after buying an additional 2,095 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in Ameren by 33.4% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,034,148 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $90,447,000 after acquiring an additional 258,858 shares during the last quarter. Commerce Bank raised its position in Ameren by 0.5% in the third quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 161,855 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $14,156,000 after purchasing an additional 769 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in Ameren by 14.1% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 57,721 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,048,000 after purchasing an additional 7,112 shares during the period. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new position in shares of Ameren in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,007,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Mizuho raised shares of Ameren from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $82.00 to $89.00 in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Ameren in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $97.00 price objective for the company. Argus raised Ameren to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Ameren from $77.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.90.

Ameren Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AEE opened at $93.81 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The company has a market cap of $25.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.45. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $88.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $80.29. Ameren Co. has a 1-year low of $67.03 and a 1-year high of $94.46.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.86%. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ameren news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.94, for a total transaction of $131,923.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,640,758.08. The trade was a 3.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.15, for a total value of $598,975.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 205,171 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,906,507.65. This represents a 3.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.42% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ameren Company 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 business.