US Bancorp DE Increases Position in Ameren Corporation $AEE

US Bancorp DE increased its stake in shares of Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) by 1.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 102,923 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,619 shares during the quarter. US Bancorp DE’s holdings in Ameren were worth $9,885,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ameren during the first quarter worth $25,000. SouthState Corp bought a new position in shares of Ameren during the first quarter worth $34,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC boosted its position in shares of Ameren by 600.0% during the second quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 343 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Ameren by 74.5% during the first quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 349 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameritas Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Ameren during the second quarter worth $34,000. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Ameren from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $91.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Ameren in a research report on Wednesday. KeyCorp set a $104.00 price objective on shares of Ameren and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. UBS Group increased their price objective 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. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Ameren from $104.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $105.75.

Ameren Price Performance

Ameren stock opened at $103.50 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $101.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $98.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.99 billion, a PE ratio of 22.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. Ameren Corporation has a 12-month low of $85.27 and a 12-month high of $105.67.

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

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 9th will be issued a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.42%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Gwendolyn G. Mizell sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.79, for a total value of $101,790.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 9,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $929,240.91. This trade represents a 9.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

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.