Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) Stock Position Lifted by Pacer Advisors Inc.

Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 18,630 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 864 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Ameren were worth $1,325,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AEE. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in shares of Ameren by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 7,414 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $536,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its stake in Ameren by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 183,485 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $13,273,000 after buying an additional 16,269 shares in the last quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. ADV bought a new position in Ameren during the fourth quarter valued at about $322,000. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its stake in Ameren by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 119,899 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,673,000 after buying an additional 1,220 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Qtron Investments LLC bought a new position in Ameren during the fourth quarter valued at about $303,000. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ameren

In other news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,640,758.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of Ameren stock opened at $86.49 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $81.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $75.79. The company has a market cap of $23.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $67.03 and a 1 year high of $87.10.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced 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 firm had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 16.28%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Ameren Co. will post 4.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

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. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 11th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AEE has been the subject of several research reports. Argus raised Ameren to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Ameren in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $97.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Ameren from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Ameren from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded Ameren from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $82.00 to $89.00 in a research report on Monday, September 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.33.

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.