Proficio Capital Partners LLC Purchases Shares of 46,888 Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 46,888 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,180,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp raised its position in Ameren by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,139,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,149,221,000 after buying an additional 334,752 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ameren by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,672,164 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $581,661,000 after acquiring an additional 127,287 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in shares of Ameren by 0.9% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,561,994 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $398,992,000 after purchasing an additional 39,300 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 59.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,631,580 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $230,158,000 after purchasing an additional 984,879 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its holdings in Ameren by 26.1% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 2,318,537 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $202,779,000 after purchasing an additional 479,668 shares during the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ameren news, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.27, for a total value of $266,901.32. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,495 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,424,423.65. This trade represents a 15.78 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.79, for a total transaction of $492,275.97. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 57,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,966,471.94. This trade represents a 7.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,959 shares of company stock worth $1,316,712 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on AEE shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Ameren from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Evercore ISI upgraded Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $89.00 to $104.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Ameren from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $93.40.

Ameren Stock Performance

AEE opened at $100.68 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The stock has a market cap of $27.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.78, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.48. Ameren Co. has a 12-month low of $69.39 and a 12-month high of $104.10. The business has a 50 day moving average of $96.04 and a 200-day moving average of $91.09.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.83 by ($0.06). Ameren had a net margin of 15.51% and a return on equity of 10.34%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.60 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be issued a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.82%. This is a positive change from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.25%.

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.