Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. Purchases 300 Shares of Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE)

Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. boosted its position in Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) by 1.7% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 17,505 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 300 shares during the quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co.’s holdings in Ameren were worth $1,734,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ameren by 20.9% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 5,221 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $465,000 after acquiring an additional 903 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Ameren by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 82,061 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,315,000 after purchasing an additional 5,808 shares during the period. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Ameren in the fourth quarter worth $238,000. Principal Securities Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 32.6% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,410 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $126,000 after purchasing an additional 347 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in shares of Ameren by 380.1% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 29,173 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,723,000 after purchasing an additional 23,096 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Price Performance

NYSE AEE opened at $94.42 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $25.52 billion, a PE ratio of 20.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.49. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $97.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $95.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.86. Ameren Corporation has a 52-week low of $69.39 and a 52-week high of $104.10.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last released its quarterly 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). Ameren had a return on equity of 10.40% and a net margin of 15.31%. The company had revenue of $2.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.92 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ameren Corporation will post 4.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 10th will be given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 10th. Ameren’s payout ratio is 62.97%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on AEE shares. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Ameren from $101.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. KeyCorp raised shares of Ameren from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $103.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Ameren in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $114.00 price objective (up previously from $113.00) on shares of Ameren in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $102.00.

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.