Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co Grows Position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co raised its position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 6.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,777 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co’s holdings in Ameren were worth $337,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AEE. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Ameren during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Mather Group LLC. boosted its holdings in Ameren by 86.2% during the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 540 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares during the period. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. grew its position in Ameren by 134.5% in the 4th quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 544 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 312 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in Ameren in the third quarter worth $56,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in shares of Ameren during the third quarter worth $74,000. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays lowered shares of Ameren from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $88.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $92.70.

Ameren Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE AEE opened at $99.33 on Thursday. Ameren Co. has a 52 week low of $69.39 and a 52 week high of $100.61. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $93.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $89.44. 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 firm has a market cap of $26.81 billion, a PE ratio of 22.47, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.83 by ($0.06). Ameren had a return on equity of 10.34% and a net margin of 15.51%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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 paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is an increase from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. Ameren’s payout ratio is presently 60.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ameren news, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.27, for a total transaction of $266,901.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 14,495 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,424,423.65. The trade was a 15.78 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ameren 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.