12,504 Shares in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) Purchased by Apollon Wealth Management LLC

Apollon Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 12,504 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,115,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Ameren by 2.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,139,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,149,221,000 after acquiring an additional 334,752 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ameren by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,672,164 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $581,661,000 after purchasing an additional 127,287 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in Ameren by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,561,994 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $398,992,000 after purchasing an additional 39,300 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in Ameren by 59.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,631,580 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $230,158,000 after purchasing an additional 984,879 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its holdings in shares of Ameren by 26.1% during the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 479,668 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Stock Down 0.0 %

AEE opened at $97.05 on Tuesday. Ameren Co. has a twelve month low of $67.03 and a twelve month high of $97.99. The firm has a market cap of $25.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.83, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.49. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $91.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $87.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.63.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is a positive change from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.93%. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.06%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AEE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Ameren from $93.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Ameren from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Evercore ISI upgraded Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Barclays lowered shares of Ameren from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $88.00 to $95.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned 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 company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $92.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.15, for a total transaction of $598,975.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 205,171 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,906,507.65. This trade represents a 3.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ameren 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.