HM Payson & Co. Has $84,000 Stake in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

HM Payson & Co. reduced its stake in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 34.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 966 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 498 shares during the quarter. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in Ameren were worth $84,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ameren by 2.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,092,435 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,447,516,000 after buying an additional 802,714 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Ameren by 25.0% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 22,931,588 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,696,022,000 after acquiring an additional 4,593,638 shares during the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP boosted its holdings in Ameren by 204.3% during the first quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 3,827,897 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $283,111,000 after acquiring an additional 2,569,897 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Ameren by 0.8% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,877,721 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $212,836,000 after purchasing an additional 23,967 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Ameren by 106.1% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,498,158 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $177,644,000 after purchasing an additional 1,286,162 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AEE has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays raised their target price on Ameren from $77.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Argus raised shares of Ameren to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Ameren in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $97.00 price target for the company. Mizuho upgraded shares of Ameren from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $82.00 to $89.00 in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Ameren from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ameren currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.80.

Ameren Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of AEE opened at $85.88 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $85.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $78.49. The stock has a market cap of $22.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.45. Ameren Co. has a 12 month low of $67.03 and a 12 month high of $89.54.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.04. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 16.28%. The business had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. Ameren’s quarterly revenue was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Ameren Co. will post 4.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.12%. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is presently 60.63%.

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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,432 shares in the company, valued at $3,640,758.08. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.42% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.