Parkside Financial Bank & Trust Buys 7,351 Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its stake in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 370.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,335 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,351 shares during the quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust’s holdings in Ameren were worth $664,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ameren by 5.5% in the first quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 2,992 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $221,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its stake in Ameren by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 7,414 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $536,000 after buying an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Avitas Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Ameren by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Avitas Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,487 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $850,000 after buying an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in Ameren by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 3,051 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $221,000 after buying an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners boosted its stake in shares of Ameren by 52.8% during the 1st quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 550 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Ameren from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Barclays raised Ameren from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $73.00 to $77.00 in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Ameren from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Ameren from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Ameren in a research report on Friday, July 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $87.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ameren presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $81.00.

Ameren Stock Performance

AEE remained flat at $83.74 on Friday. 76,559 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,623,943. The firm has a market cap of $22.33 billion, a PE ratio of 19.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.67. Ameren Co. has a twelve month low of $67.03 and a twelve month high of $84.60. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $78.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $74.42.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 16.28%. The business’s revenue was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ameren Co. will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 11th. Ameren’s payout ratio is 61.61%.

Insider Transactions at Ameren

In other Ameren news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.94, for a total value of $131,923.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,640,758.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

About Ameren

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.