Ameren Corporation $AEE Shares Acquired by Magellan Asset Management Ltd

Magellan Asset Management Ltd lifted its position in shares of Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) by 7.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 225,722 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,804 shares during the quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Ameren were worth $23,561,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC lifted its position in Ameren by 1.4% during the second quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 7,105 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $682,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Segment Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ameren by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Segment Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,941 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $307,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. NewSquare Capital LLC boosted its position in Ameren by 70.9% during the 2nd quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 258 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the period. Keb Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Ameren by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Keb Asset Management LLC now owns 12,568 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,312,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the period. Finally, LVW Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Ameren by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. LVW Advisors LLC now owns 2,921 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $305,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AEE has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays decreased their target price on Ameren from $111.00 to $104.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. UBS Group upped their price target on Ameren from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Ameren from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Ameren from $112.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Ameren to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $113.30.

Ameren Trading Up 0.1%

AEE opened at $111.22 on Wednesday. Ameren Corporation has a 12-month low of $91.77 and a 12-month high of $112.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.74 billion, a PE ratio of 20.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.57. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $103.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $102.58.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.01. Ameren had a net margin of 16.55% and a return on equity of 10.69%. The company had revenue of $1.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.69 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.77 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Ameren Corporation will post 4.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. This is a boost from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.08%.

Insider Activity at Ameren

In other news, insider Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.60, for a total value of $673,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 193,076 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,002,673.60. This trade represents a 3.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

About Ameren

Ameren Corporation (NYSE: AEE) is an integrated energy company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, that provides electric and natural gas delivery and related services in portions of Missouri and Illinois. The company operates regulated utility businesses that serve a broad mix of residential, commercial and industrial customers, and it participates in wholesale energy markets and transmission operations that support reliable service across its service territories.

Ameren’s core activities include generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, distribution of natural gas, and the provision of customer energy solutions such as demand-side management and energy efficiency programs.