Aberdeen Group plc Reduces Holdings in Ameren Corporation $AEE

Aberdeen Group plc reduced its stake in Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 133,097 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 7,543 shares during the period. Aberdeen Group plc’s holdings in Ameren were worth $13,782,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AEE. Allstate Corp bought a new position in shares of Ameren during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,050,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in Ameren by 4.7% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,787,278 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $186,556,000 after acquiring an additional 79,763 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in Ameren during the third quarter worth approximately $1,097,000. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Ameren by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 255,152 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $24,505,000 after acquiring an additional 2,750 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ameren by 119.0% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 77,315 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,070,000 after buying an additional 42,004 shares during the period. 79.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ameren Stock Performance

Shares of Ameren stock opened at $109.73 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.51, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.57. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $102.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $102.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.46. Ameren Corporation has a one year low of $91.77 and a one year high of $112.65.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.69 billion. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.69% and a net margin of 16.55%.Ameren’s quarterly revenue was down 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.77 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ameren Corporation will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. This is a boost from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.08%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.60, for a total transaction of $673,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 193,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,002,673.60. This represents a 3.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AEE. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $116.00 price objective on shares of Ameren in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Ameren from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 15th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Ameren from $121.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Mizuho set a $117.00 target price on Ameren in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “underperform” rating and set a $108.00 target price on shares of Ameren in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $111.30.

About Ameren

Ameren Corporation (NYSE: AEE) is an integrated energy company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, that provides electric and natural gas delivery and related services in portions of Missouri and Illinois. The company operates regulated utility businesses that serve a broad mix of residential, commercial and industrial customers, and it participates in wholesale energy markets and transmission operations that support reliable service across its service territories.

Ameren’s core activities include generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, distribution of natural gas, and the provision of customer energy solutions such as demand-side management and energy efficiency programs.