Bleakley Financial Group LLC Sells 1,036 Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Bleakley Financial Group LLC decreased its position in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 17.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 5,074 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,036 shares during the quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Ameren were worth $367,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Colony Group LLC lifted its position in Ameren by 3.7% during the first quarter. Colony Group LLC now owns 3,405 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $294,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in Ameren by 0.7% during the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 18,055 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,475,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Ameren by 2.3% during the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,928 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $512,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in Ameren by 13.5% during the second quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,188 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $97,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the period. Finally, Toroso Investments LLC lifted its position in Ameren by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Toroso Investments LLC now owns 3,059 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $272,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on AEE. StockNews.com cut shares of Ameren from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Ameren from $77.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 18th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Ameren from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Ameren from $77.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Ameren in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $73.00 target price for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ameren presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $79.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameren

In other Ameren news, CEO Martin J. Lyons sold 7,270 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.70, for a total transaction of $513,989.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 246,434 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,422,883.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Martin J. Lyons sold 7,270 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.70, for a total transaction of $513,989.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 246,434 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,422,883.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Mark C. Lindgren sold 1,630 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.70, for a total transaction of $115,241.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 47,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,385,328.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE AEE opened at $71.76 on Monday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $71.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $73.56. The firm has a market cap of $19.12 billion, a PE ratio of 16.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.44. Ameren Co. has a 1 year low of $67.03 and a 1 year high of $91.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.43.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.03 billion. Ameren had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 10.42%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 20.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.63 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Ameren Co. will post 4.59 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 12th. This is an increase from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is currently 61.33%.

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.