Legal & General Group Plc Reduces Holdings in Ameren Corporation $AEE

Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its stake in Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) by 6.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,980,793 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 139,714 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Ameren were worth $197,802,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,645,555 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,559,565,000 after purchasing an additional 495,945 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,045,845 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,466,105,000 after purchasing an additional 328,401 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,283,529 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $655,892,000 after purchasing an additional 60,519 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,140,239 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $536,538,000 after purchasing an additional 49,282 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 68.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,080,775 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $425,951,000 after purchasing an additional 1,661,019 shares during the period. 79.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameren

In other news, SVP Theresa A. Shaw sold 325 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.08, for a total value of $35,451.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 32,618 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,557,971.44. This trade represents a 0.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AEE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Ameren from $112.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Ameren from $104.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Mizuho set a $117.00 price objective on shares of Ameren in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on shares of Ameren in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Ameren from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $120.00 to $126.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $117.54.

Ameren Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of Ameren stock opened at $111.03 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.44. Ameren Corporation has a 1 year low of $93.50 and a 1 year high of $115.58. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $110.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $106.53. The stock has a market cap of $30.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.97, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.50.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.11. Ameren had a net margin of 17.17% and a return on equity of 10.94%. The company had revenue of $2.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.07 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Ameren has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.250-5.450 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Ameren Corporation will post 5.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 9th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 53.96%.

Ameren Profile

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.