BTS Asset Management Inc. Buys Shares of 4,916 Ameren Corporation $AEE

BTS Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 4,916 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $496,000. Ameren accounts for approximately 0.7% of BTS Asset Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest position.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Allstate Corp bought a new position in shares of Ameren during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,050,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Ameren by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,787,278 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $186,556,000 after purchasing an additional 79,763 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of Ameren during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,097,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ameren by 119.0% during the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 77,315 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,070,000 after purchasing an additional 42,004 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position in shares of Ameren by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 3,378,053 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $352,601,000 after purchasing an additional 116,819 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Ameren

In other Ameren news, insider Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.60, for a total value of $673,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 193,076 shares in the company, valued at $20,002,673.60. This trade represents a 3.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Argus raised their price objective on shares of Ameren from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Ameren from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Ameren from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $116.00 price objective on shares of Ameren in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Mizuho set a $117.00 price objective on shares of Ameren in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $115.92.

Ameren Stock Performance

Shares of AEE opened at $110.85 on Thursday. Ameren Corporation has a one year low of $93.27 and a one year high of $115.53. The company has a 50-day moving average of $110.23 and a two-hundred day moving average of $105.20. The stock has a market cap of $30.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.72, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.52. 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 (NYSE:AEE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.01. Ameren had a net margin of 16.55% and a return on equity of 10.69%. The company had revenue of $1.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.69 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.77 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ameren Corporation will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th were issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 10th. This is a positive change from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is 56.07%.

Ameren Profile

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.