Bank of America Corp DE Acquires 501,187 Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 36.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,865,910 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 501,187 shares during the quarter. Bank of America Corp DE owned approximately 0.70% of Ameren worth $166,327,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ameren in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in Ameren in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in Ameren during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ameren during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Optiver Holding B.V. increased its stake in shares of Ameren by 78.7% in the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 470 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ameren Stock Performance

Shares of AEE stock opened at $97.48 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $26.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.05, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.66. Ameren Co. has a 52 week low of $69.39 and a 52 week high of $104.10. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $98.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $94.54.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $2.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.92 billion. Ameren had a net margin of 15.51% and a return on equity of 10.34%. Ameren’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 10th will be given a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.91%. Ameren’s payout ratio is presently 62.97%.

Insider Activity at Ameren

In other Ameren news, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.79, for a total transaction of $492,275.97. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 57,486 shares in the company, valued at $5,966,471.94. This represents a 7.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.27, for a total transaction of $266,901.32. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,495 shares in the company, valued at $1,424,423.65. This represents a 15.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 12,959 shares of company stock worth $1,316,712. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $101.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ameren in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Ameren in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Ameren from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Ameren from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ameren presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $99.89.

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.