Versor Investments LP Sells 4,700 Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Versor Investments LP lessened its position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 29.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,700 shares during the period. Versor Investments LP’s holdings in Ameren were worth $1,025,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC lifted its position in Ameren by 59.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,631,580 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $230,158,000 after acquiring an additional 984,879 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ameren by 484.8% in the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 637,241 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $55,733,000 after acquiring an additional 528,270 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its stake in shares of Ameren by 26.1% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 2,318,537 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $202,779,000 after acquiring an additional 479,668 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in Ameren by 42.1% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,469,037 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $130,950,000 after buying an additional 434,889 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Ameren by 51.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,064,877 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $93,134,000 after purchasing an additional 362,772 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AEE has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $89.00 to $104.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Ameren from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Barclays downgraded Ameren from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $88.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $92.70.

Ameren Stock Performance

AEE opened at $99.69 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $26.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.44. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $93.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $89.51. Ameren Co. has a 1-year low of $69.39 and a 1-year high of $100.61.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by ($0.06). Ameren had a return on equity of 10.34% and a net margin of 15.51%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be given a $0.71 dividend. This is a positive change from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.85%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 60.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.27, for a total value of $266,901.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,495 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,424,423.65. This trade represents a 15.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

About Ameren

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.