Magnetar Financial LLC Purchases Shares of 37,008 Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 37,008 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,632,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of AEE. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 25.0% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 22,931,588 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,696,022,000 after buying an additional 4,593,638 shares in the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP boosted its position in Ameren by 204.3% in the first quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 3,827,897 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $283,111,000 after purchasing an additional 2,569,897 shares during the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ameren in the 4th quarter worth about $60,445,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Ameren by 2.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,092,435 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,447,516,000 after buying an additional 802,714 shares during the period. Finally, ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd increased its holdings in Ameren by 192.6% during the second quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd now owns 1,103,565 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $78,475,000 after buying an additional 726,404 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Price Performance

Shares of Ameren stock opened at $85.65 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a fifty day moving average of $81.23 and a 200-day moving average of $75.56. Ameren Co. has a 52-week low of $67.03 and a 52-week high of $86.15. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.04. Ameren had a net margin of 16.28% and a return on equity of 10.20%. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Ameren Co. will post 4.62 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 11th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.13%. Ameren’s payout ratio is currently 61.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on AEE. UBS Group initiated coverage on Ameren in a report on Friday, July 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $87.00 price objective for the company. Barclays raised shares of Ameren from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $73.00 to $77.00 in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Ameren from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Mizuho upgraded Ameren from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $82.00 to $89.00 in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Ameren from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $85.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ameren news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of the business’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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,432 shares in the company, valued at $3,640,758.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ameren 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.