Jennison Associates LLC Increases Holdings in Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE)

Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) by 15.2% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,692,115 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 223,078 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC’s holdings in Ameren were worth $169,888,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in AEE. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 1,732.4% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 3,068,505 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $273,527,000 after acquiring an additional 2,901,047 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 96.5% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,170,709 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $460,917,000 after buying an additional 2,539,129 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 16.7% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 17,038,754 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,518,835,000 after buying an additional 2,439,811 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 116.0% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,357,876 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $210,181,000 after buying an additional 1,266,051 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 76.7% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,134,288 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $190,250,000 after buying an additional 926,126 shares in the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on AEE. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Ameren in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. KeyCorp set a $104.00 target price on Ameren and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group set a $114.00 target price on Ameren and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Ameren from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Ameren from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $101.36.

Ameren Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of NYSE:AEE opened at $97.87 on Friday. Ameren Corporation has a 52-week low of $74.33 and a 52-week high of $104.10. The stock has a market cap of $26.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.48. The business’s 50 day moving average is $95.99 and its 200 day moving average is $96.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.07 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $2.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.92 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict 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. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 10th were issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 10th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.90%. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.97%.

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.