Graver Capital Management LLC Takes $201,000 Position in Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE)

Graver Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 2,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000. Ameren makes up 0.2% of Graver Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Ameren during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. ORG Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Ameren by 74.5% in the first quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 349 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ameren in the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. Optiver Holding B.V. raised its stake in shares of Ameren by 78.7% in the fourth quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 470 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ameren by 49.4% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on AEE. Barclays increased their price target on Ameren from $101.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Ameren from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Ameren from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $91.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Ameren in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp raised Ameren from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $103.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Five investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $101.64.

Ameren Price Performance

Ameren stock opened at $95.01 on Wednesday. Ameren Corporation has a one year low of $70.27 and a one year high of $104.10. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $96.38 and a 200-day moving average price of $96.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.07, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.48.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business earned $0.98 earnings per share. Ameren’s revenue was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ameren Corporation will post 4.93 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 10th were paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.99%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 10th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is 62.97%.

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.