Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) Shares Acquired by Farther Finance Advisors LLC

Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 7.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 5,597 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 398 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ameren were worth $563,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AEE. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its holdings in Ameren by 14.4% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 10,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $907,000 after purchasing an additional 1,282 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Ameren by 7.6% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 82,061 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,315,000 after buying an additional 5,808 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ameren during the fourth quarter worth about $19,367,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Ameren by 49.4% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valeo Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Ameren during the 4th quarter valued at $238,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AEE has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley set a $102.00 target price on Ameren and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. KeyCorp raised shares of Ameren from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $103.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Ameren in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $102.00.

Ameren Price Performance

NYSE AEE opened at $95.52 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $97.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $95.66. Ameren Co. has a 52 week low of $69.39 and a 52 week high of $104.10. The stock has a market cap of $25.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.01). Ameren had a net margin of 15.51% and a return on equity of 10.34%. The business had revenue of $2.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.92 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 10th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.97%. Ameren’s payout ratio is 62.97%.

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.