Jones Financial Companies Lllp Boosts Stock Position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 26.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 36,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,694 shares during the quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp’s holdings in Ameren were worth $3,284,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AEE. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Ameren by 59.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,631,580 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $230,158,000 after buying an additional 984,879 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC grew its stake in Ameren by 484.8% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 637,241 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $55,733,000 after acquiring an additional 528,270 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its holdings in Ameren by 26.1% during the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 479,668 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in Ameren by 42.1% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,469,037 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $130,950,000 after purchasing an additional 434,889 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Ameren by 51.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,064,877 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $93,134,000 after purchasing an additional 362,772 shares during the period. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AEE. Evercore ISI raised shares of Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $89.00 to $104.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Ameren from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Ameren from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $93.40.

Ameren Stock Performance

NYSE:AEE opened at $98.77 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $26.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.35, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.48. The business has a 50 day moving average of $94.55 and a 200 day moving average of $90.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.44. Ameren Co. has a 1-year low of $69.39 and a 1-year high of $104.10.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict 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. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be paid 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 2.88%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.25%.

Insider Transactions at Ameren

In related news, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.79, for a total transaction of $492,275.97. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 57,486 shares in the company, valued at $5,966,471.94. This trade represents a 7.62 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.27, for a total value of $266,901.32. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 14,495 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,424,423.65. This trade represents a 15.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 12,959 shares of company stock worth $1,316,712. Company 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.