Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 57,939 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,696 shares during the quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ameren were worth $5,067,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ameren by 493.0% in the 1st quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 21,728 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,607,000 after acquiring an additional 18,064 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in Ameren by 703.6% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 129,346 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,566,000 after purchasing an additional 113,250 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Ameren by 392.0% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 19,434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,382,000 after purchasing an additional 15,484 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in Ameren by 137.2% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 100,154 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,407,000 after purchasing an additional 57,923 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ameren during the second quarter valued at about $2,632,000. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AEE. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Ameren in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $97.00 price target on the stock. Argus upgraded Ameren to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Barclays boosted their target price on Ameren from $77.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on Ameren from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.80.

Insider Activity at Ameren

In other Ameren news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of the 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,640,758.08. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ameren Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:AEE opened at $87.11 on Friday. 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 $89.54. The stock has a market cap of $23.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.71, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.45. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $85.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $78.39.

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. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion during 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%. Ameren’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Ameren Co. will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.08%. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.63%.

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.