Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 432,968 Shares of Ameren Corporation $AEE

Vanguard Group Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 35,149,610 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 432,968 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 13.00% of Ameren worth $3,668,916,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. NewSquare Capital LLC raised its position in 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 stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 302 shares during the period. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Ameren during the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Addison Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Ameren by 728.9% in the second 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 period. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in Ameren by 49.0% in the second quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 362 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on AEE. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $116.00 price objective on shares of Ameren in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ameren in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $108.00 price target on shares of Ameren in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Ameren from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Ameren from $111.00 to $104.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $111.30.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameren

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 value of $673,400.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 193,076 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,002,673.60. The trade was a 3.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Stock Down 2.0%

Shares of Ameren stock opened at $108.38 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. Ameren Corporation has a twelve month low of $91.77 and a twelve month high of $112.65. The company has a market cap of $29.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.57. The company’s 50 day moving average is $102.39 and its 200 day moving average is $102.34.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced 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 return on equity of 10.69% and a net margin of 16.55%.The business had revenue of $1.78 billion for 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 for the quarter was down 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Ameren Corporation will post 4.93 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. This is a boost from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. Ameren’s payout ratio is presently 53.08%.

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.