Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Buys 123,427 Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,954,962 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 123,427 shares during the quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned approximately 0.73% of Ameren worth $139,017,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Ameren by 115.3% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 366 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in Ameren in the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lifted its position in Ameren by 117.6% during the 1st quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 370 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Ameren during the first quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ameren in the first quarter valued at about $31,000. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Price Performance

NYSE:AEE opened at $84.62 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $22.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.45, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a 50-day moving average of $80.52 and a 200-day moving average of $75.28. Ameren Co. has a 52 week low of $67.03 and a 52 week high of $85.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.67.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.04. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 16.28%. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ameren Co. will post 4.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 11th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.17%. Ameren’s payout ratio is presently 61.61%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,432 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,640,758.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.42% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on AEE shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Ameren from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. UBS Group began coverage on Ameren in a report on Friday, July 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $87.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Ameren from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Barclays upgraded shares of Ameren from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $73.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded shares of Ameren from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $82.00 to $89.00 in a research report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ameren presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $82.70.

About Ameren

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.