Kentucky Retirement Systems Has $1.43 Million Position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Kentucky Retirement Systems lifted its stake in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 0.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 20,095 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 126 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Ameren were worth $1,429,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Ameren by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 898,638 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $65,007,000 after acquiring an additional 12,431 shares during the last quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 18,064 shares during the last quarter. Putnam Investments LLC boosted its stake in Ameren by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 5,112,645 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $369,849,000 after purchasing an additional 156,733 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in Ameren by 703.6% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 129,346 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,566,000 after buying an additional 113,250 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Ameren by 392.0% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 19,434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,382,000 after buying an additional 15,484 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Ameren

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 stock was sold at an average price of $81.94, for a total value of $131,923.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,640,758.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ameren Stock Performance

Ameren stock opened at $85.62 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $22.83 billion, a PE ratio of 19.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 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 12-month low of $67.03 and a 12-month high of $85.85. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $80.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $75.43.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. Ameren had a net margin of 16.28% and a return on equity of 10.20%. The firm’s revenue was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Ameren Co. will post 4.62 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 $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.13%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 11th. Ameren’s payout ratio is 61.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AEE shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Ameren from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Ameren in a research report on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating and a $97.00 target price on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Ameren from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Mizuho upgraded Ameren from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $82.00 to $89.00 in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Ameren from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $85.00.

Ameren Company 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.