Great Lakes Advisors LLC Raises Stock Position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 116,785 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 347 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ameren were worth $8,305,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Ameren by 115.3% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 366 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in Ameren during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in Ameren by 117.6% in the 1st quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 370 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Ameren in the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ameren during the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 79.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Ameren

In related news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.94, for a total transaction of $131,923.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,432 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,640,758.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Ameren from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Bank of America raised their target price on Ameren from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Ameren from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. UBS Group began coverage on Ameren in a report on Friday, July 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $87.00 price target for the company. Finally, Barclays raised Ameren from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $73.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $81.00.

Ameren Stock Performance

AEE stock opened at $83.16 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $78.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $74.54. Ameren Co. has a 12-month low of $67.03 and a 12-month high of $84.60. The firm has a market cap of $22.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40.

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

Ameren Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 11th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.61%.

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.