Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Has $15.19 Million Stock Holdings in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 13.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 170,430 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 20,466 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Ameren were worth $15,192,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AEE. Metis Global Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ameren by 1.5% during the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 8,513 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $745,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC raised its holdings in Ameren by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 4,786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC boosted its position in Ameren by 4.2% during the third quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 3,107 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $272,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 16.3% in the 4th quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 980 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $87,000 after buying an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC grew its stake in shares of Ameren by 1.7% in the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 9,110 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $797,000 after buying an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AEE shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Ameren from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Barclays downgraded shares of 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 research note on Monday, January 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $92.70.

Insider Transactions at Ameren

In other Ameren news, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.27, for a total value of $266,901.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 14,495 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,424,423.65. This trade represents a 15.78 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE AEE opened at $98.78 on Tuesday. Ameren Co. has a 52 week low of $69.39 and a 52 week high of $100.61. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $93.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $89.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The company has a market cap of $26.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.49.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.83 by ($0.06). Ameren had a net margin of 15.51% and a return on equity of 10.34%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is a boost from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.88%. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is 60.63%.

Ameren Company Profile

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.