Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Buys 934 Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 21.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 5,231 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 934 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Ameren were worth $458,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Ameren by 25.0% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 22,931,588 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,696,022,000 after buying an additional 4,593,638 shares during the period. Zimmer Partners LP grew its position in shares of Ameren by 204.3% during the 1st quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 3,827,897 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $283,111,000 after purchasing an additional 2,569,897 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in Ameren by 106.1% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,498,158 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $177,644,000 after acquiring an additional 1,286,162 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Ameren by 8,645.7% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,160,998 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,015,410,000 after purchasing an additional 1,147,723 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Ameren by 3,738.0% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 745,872 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $65,234,000 after purchasing an additional 726,438 shares during the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Ameren

In other news, 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,640,758.08. This represents a 3.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Trading Up 2.0 %

NYSE AEE opened at $94.06 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. The firm has a market cap of $25.11 billion, a PE ratio of 22.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.45. Ameren Co. has a 52 week low of $67.03 and a 52 week high of $94.21. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $87.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $80.12.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.85%. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.06%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. 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 report on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Ameren from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Ameren from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Ameren from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Ameren to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.80.

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.