Mutual Advisors LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Mutual Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,994 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 475 shares during the quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ameren were worth $1,869,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kentucky Retirement Systems increased its position in Ameren by 0.6% in the second quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems now owns 20,095 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,429,000 after buying an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Ameren by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 9,803 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $697,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in Ameren by 115.3% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 366 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC raised its stake in Ameren by 108.1% during the 1st quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 435 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 226 shares during the period. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its position in shares of Ameren by 11.2% in the third quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 2,237 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $196,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on AEE shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Ameren from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Argus upgraded Ameren to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Barclays lifted their target price on Ameren from $77.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Mizuho upgraded Ameren from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $82.00 to $89.00 in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Ameren in a report on Friday, July 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $87.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ameren has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.80.

Ameren Stock Performance

Ameren stock opened at $87.11 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $23.23 billion, a PE ratio of 19.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.45. Ameren Co. has a twelve month low of $67.03 and a twelve month high of $89.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $85.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $78.39.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. Ameren’s quarterly revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Ameren Co. will post 4.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.08%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. Ameren’s payout ratio is currently 60.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameren

In other news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.94, for a total value of $131,923.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,432 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,640,758.08. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

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.