Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) Shares Bought by Moors & Cabot Inc.

Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 16.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,993 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 702 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc.’s holdings in Ameren were worth $445,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 334,752 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 127,287 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 39,300 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its position in Ameren by 26.1% during 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 last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ameren Stock Up 1.3 %

AEE opened at $99.26 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.48. Ameren Co. has a 12 month low of $69.39 and a 12 month high of $104.10. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $95.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $90.90.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 quarter last year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.86%. This is a boost from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameren

In other Ameren news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.37, for a total transaction of $557,535.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,344 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,393,781.28. The trade was a 11.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.79, for a total transaction of $492,275.97. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 57,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,966,471.94. The trade was a 7.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 12,959 shares of company stock valued at $1,316,712. Company insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Ameren from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Evercore ISI raised Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays upped their price objective on Ameren from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $93.40.

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.