B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG Acquires Shares of 11,517 Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 11,517 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,007,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Metis Global Partners LLC grew its holdings in Ameren by 1.5% during the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 8,513 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $745,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems lifted its stake in Ameren by 0.6% in the second quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems now owns 20,095 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,429,000 after buying an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC lifted its stake in Ameren by 4.2% in the third quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 3,107 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $272,000 after buying an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. lifted its stake in Ameren by 1.4% in the second quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 9,803 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $697,000 after buying an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC lifted its stake in Ameren by 2.2% in the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 8,880 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $777,000 after buying an additional 192 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ameren news, CFO Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.15, for a total value of $598,975.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 205,171 shares in the company, valued at $18,906,507.65. The trade was a 3.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were 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. This represents a 3.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.42% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Ameren from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Ameren in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $97.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Ameren from $88.00 to $86.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Argus raised shares of Ameren to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Mizuho raised shares of Ameren from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $82.00 to $89.00 in a research report on Monday, September 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.90.

Ameren Price Performance

Shares of AEE opened at $93.81 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $25.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.07, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.45. Ameren Co. has a 1-year low of $67.03 and a 1-year high of $94.46. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $88.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $80.29. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37.

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The company 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 is Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.86%. Ameren’s payout ratio is 63.06%.

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.