Keener Financial Planning LLC Takes Position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Keener Financial Planning LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 1,149 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $83,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Penserra Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ameren during the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Dark Forest Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Ameren in the first quarter worth about $27,000. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ameren in the third quarter worth about $25,000. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ameren by 218.2% in the third quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 350 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA bought a new stake in shares of Ameren in the third quarter worth about $37,000. 79.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ameren news, CEO Martin J. Lyons sold 7,270 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.70, for a total transaction of $513,989.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 246,434 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,422,883.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Ameren news, CEO Martin J. Lyons sold 7,270 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.70, for a total transaction of $513,989.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 246,434 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,422,883.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Mark C. Lindgren sold 1,630 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.70, for a total transaction of $115,241.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 47,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,385,328.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.36% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ameren Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of AEE stock traded up $0.65 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $73.99. 1,124,279 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,842,342. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $71.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $73.72. Ameren Co. has a 12-month low of $67.03 and a 12-month high of $91.18. The stock has a market cap of $19.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.78, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by ($0.01). Ameren had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 15.36%. The firm had revenue of $1.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.63 earnings per share. Ameren’s revenue was down 20.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Ameren Co. will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 13th were issued a $0.67 dividend. This is a positive change from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 12th. Ameren’s payout ratio is presently 61.33%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on AEE shares. KeyCorp cut Ameren from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 15th. Bank of America cut Ameren from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $82.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Evercore ISI cut Ameren from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating in a research report on Friday, December 15th. Mizuho cut their price objective on Ameren from $77.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Ameren from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 18th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ameren presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $80.11.

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.