Motco Has $44,000 Holdings in Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE)

Motco cut its stake in Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) by 19.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 435 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 107 shares during the period. Motco’s holdings in Ameren were worth $44,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Ameren by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 27,048,729 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,411,125,000 after purchasing an additional 392,170 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Ameren by 16.7% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 17,038,754 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,518,835,000 after purchasing an additional 2,439,811 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ameren by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,749,446 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $600,157,000 after purchasing an additional 77,282 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Ameren by 96.5% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,170,709 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $460,917,000 after purchasing an additional 2,539,129 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in Ameren by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,601,449 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $410,174,000 after purchasing an additional 39,455 shares during the period. 79.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ameren Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of AEE stock opened at $100.15 on Friday. Ameren Corporation has a 12-month low of $77.08 and a 12-month high of $104.10. The company has a market capitalization of $27.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.48. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $96.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $96.95. 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 results 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 net margin of 15.31% and a return on equity of 10.40%. The firm had revenue of $2.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Ameren Corporation will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Ameren from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Ameren in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Ameren from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $91.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Ameren from $102.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Ameren from $111.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ameren currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $101.36.

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.