JPMorgan Chase & Co. Acquires 1,661,019 Shares of Ameren Corporation $AEE

JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) by 68.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,080,775 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,661,019 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned approximately 1.51% of Ameren worth $425,951,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. NewSquare Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Ameren by 70.9% during the 2nd quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 258 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Ameren by 6,040.0% during the second quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. now owns 307 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 302 shares during the last quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Ameren in the third quarter valued at $29,000. Addison Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 277 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ameren by 49.0% during the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 362 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the period. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ameren Stock Performance

Shares of Ameren stock opened at $108.38 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $102.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $102.34. The firm has a market cap of $29.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.57. Ameren Corporation has a 12 month low of $91.77 and a 12 month high of $112.65.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.01. Ameren had a net margin of 16.55% and a return on equity of 10.69%. The company had revenue of $1.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.69 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.77 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ameren Corporation will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. This is an increase from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 53.08%.

Insider Transactions at Ameren

In related news, insider Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the insider owned 193,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,002,673.60. This trade represents a 3.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on AEE shares. KeyCorp lowered shares of Ameren from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $116.00 price target on shares of Ameren in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Ameren from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ameren in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $108.00 target price on shares of Ameren in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $111.30.

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.