Kentucky Trust Co Takes Position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Kentucky Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 15,862 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,414,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Ameren by 2.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,139,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,149,221,000 after buying an additional 334,752 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Ameren by 1.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,672,164 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $581,661,000 after purchasing an additional 127,287 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in Ameren by 0.9% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,561,994 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $398,992,000 after purchasing an additional 39,300 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in Ameren by 59.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,631,580 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $230,158,000 after purchasing an additional 984,879 shares during the period. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its stake in Ameren by 26.1% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 2,318,537 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $202,779,000 after purchasing an additional 479,668 shares during the period. 79.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.15, for a total transaction of $598,975.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 205,171 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,906,507.65. The trade was a 3.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:AEE opened at $98.19 on Wednesday. Ameren Co. has a 52-week low of $67.03 and a 52-week high of $98.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.10, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.49. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $91.57 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $87.97.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is a boost from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. Ameren’s payout ratio is presently 63.06%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI raised Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays downgraded Ameren from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $88.00 to $95.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Ameren from $93.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Ameren from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ameren currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $92.00.

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.