ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd Raises Stock Position in Ameren Corporation $AEE

ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd increased its stake in shares of Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) by 104,698.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,370,758 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,369,450 shares during the quarter. Ameren comprises approximately 3.2% of ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd owned 0.51% of Ameren worth $143,091,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AEE. NewSquare Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Ameren by 70.9% during the 2nd quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 258 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 107 shares during the period. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. acquired a new stake in Ameren in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 6,040.0% during the second quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. now owns 307 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares in the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Ameren by 728.9% in the second quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 315 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares during the period. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ameren by 49.0% in the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 362 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.60, for a total transaction of $673,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 193,076 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,002,673.60. This represents a 3.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.42% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AEE. KeyCorp cut shares of Ameren from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Mizuho set a $117.00 price target on Ameren in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley set a $116.00 price target on Ameren in a report on Friday. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Ameren from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ameren in a research report on Monday, December 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ameren currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $113.30.

Ameren Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of AEE opened at $110.02 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.57. Ameren Corporation has a 1-year low of $91.77 and a 1-year high of $112.65. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $102.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $102.44.

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

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid 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 positive change from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.08%.

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.