Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Reduces Position in Ameren Corporation $AEE

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. decreased its position in Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) by 7.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 24,176 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,916 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in Ameren were worth $2,427,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of AEE. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ameren during the first quarter worth $204,000. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ameren during the first quarter worth $897,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH acquired a new position in shares of Ameren in the 1st quarter valued at $13,552,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Ameren by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 16,926 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,699,000 after acquiring an additional 963 shares during the period. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Ameren by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 2,741 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $275,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. KeyCorp set a $104.00 price target on shares of Ameren and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Ameren from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Ameren from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Barclays lowered their price target on Ameren from $104.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Ameren from $111.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $102.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameren

In other Ameren news, SVP Gwendolyn G. Mizell sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.79, for a total value of $101,790.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 9,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $929,240.91. This represents a 9.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ameren Stock Performance

NYSE AEE opened at $99.81 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $98.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $98.19. Ameren Corporation has a 12-month low of $81.31 and a 12-month high of $104.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The company has a market cap of $26.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.94, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.45.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. Ameren had a net margin of 14.55% and a return on equity of 10.38%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 31.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.97 EPS. Ameren has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.850-5.050 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Ameren Corporation will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 9th will be given a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 9th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.42%.

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.