Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) Shares Sold by Farther Finance Advisors LLC

Farther Finance Advisors LLC decreased its position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 36.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,208 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,024 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ameren were worth $368,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Ameren by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 898,638 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $65,007,000 after buying an additional 12,431 shares during the last quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ameren by 493.0% during the 1st quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 21,728 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,607,000 after buying an additional 18,064 shares during the last quarter. Putnam Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ameren by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 5,112,645 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $369,849,000 after buying an additional 156,733 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ameren by 703.6% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 129,346 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,566,000 after buying an additional 113,250 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in shares of Ameren by 83.9% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 264,835 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $19,158,000 after buying an additional 120,849 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Stock Performance

NYSE:AEE opened at $83.81 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $77.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $74.35. The company has a market cap of $22.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. Ameren Co. has a 52 week low of $67.03 and a 52 week high of $84.51.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. Ameren had a net margin of 16.28% and a return on equity of 10.20%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ameren Co. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 11th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.20%. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 61.61%.

Insider Transactions at Ameren

In other news, Director Rafael Flores sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.29, for a total transaction of $106,935.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,768 shares in the company, valued at $981,520.72. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Ameren news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.94, for a total transaction of $131,923.40. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,432 shares in the company, valued at $3,640,758.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Rafael Flores sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.29, for a total transaction of $106,935.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,768 shares in the company, valued at $981,520.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on AEE shares. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Ameren from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ameren from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Ameren from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Barclays upgraded shares of Ameren from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $73.00 to $77.00 in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Ameren from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ameren has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $81.00.

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.