Schroder Investment Management Group Sells 19,362 Shares of Ameren Corporation $AEE

Schroder Investment Management Group lessened its stake in Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 296,005 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 19,362 shares during the quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group’s holdings in Ameren were worth $30,651,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Ameren during the third quarter worth $29,000. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Ameren by 6,040.0% in the 2nd quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. now owns 307 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares during the period. Addison Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Ameren by 728.9% in the 2nd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 315 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in Ameren by 30.9% during the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 474 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in Ameren during the 3rd quarter worth about $54,000. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AEE opened at $109.31 on Thursday. 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $106.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $103.37. The company has a market cap of $30.22 billion, a PE ratio of 20.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.56. Ameren Corporation has a twelve month low of $91.77 and a twelve month high of $113.64.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.01. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.69% and a net margin of 16.55%.The company had revenue of $1.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.69 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.77 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Ameren Corporation will post 4.93 EPS for the current 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 issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. This is a positive change from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Ameren’s payout ratio is 56.07%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Ameren from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Morgan Stanley set a $116.00 price objective on Ameren in a report on Friday, February 20th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Ameren from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Ameren from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Ameren from $112.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $113.30.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ameren news, insider Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of Ameren 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 transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Ameren

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.