Advisors Preferred LLC Buys New Shares in Ameren Corporation $AEE

Advisors Preferred LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 61,119 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,322,000. Ameren makes up about 0.9% of Advisors Preferred LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 29th biggest position.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC raised its holdings in Ameren by 1.4% during the second quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 7,105 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $682,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Segment Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ameren by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Segment Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,941 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $307,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. 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 purchasing an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Keb Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ameren by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Keb Asset Management LLC now owns 12,568 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,312,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LVW Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. LVW Advisors LLC now owns 2,921 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $305,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the company’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 transaction, the insider directly owned 193,076 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,002,673.60. This represents a 3.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on AEE. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $116.00 price target on shares of Ameren in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Ameren from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday. Mizuho set a $117.00 price target on Ameren in a report on Friday, February 13th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Ameren from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on Ameren from $111.00 to $104.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. One equities research 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $113.30.

Ameren Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of AEE opened at $110.02 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $30.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.66. Ameren Corporation has a 52 week low of $91.77 and a 52 week high of $112.65. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $102.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $102.45.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.01. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.69% and a net margin of 16.55%.The company had revenue of $1.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.69 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.77 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast 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 will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This is an increase from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. Ameren’s payout ratio is 53.08%.

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.