Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Acquires 1,561 Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp raised its stake in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 184,188 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,561 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp’s holdings in Ameren were worth $16,419,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Ameren by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,139,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,149,221,000 after acquiring an additional 334,752 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Ameren by 1.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,672,164 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $581,661,000 after purchasing an additional 127,287 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in shares of Ameren by 0.9% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,561,994 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $398,992,000 after purchasing an additional 39,300 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 984,879 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 479,668 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ameren news, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 57,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,966,471.94. This trade represents a 7.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 12,959 shares of company stock worth $1,316,712 in the last 90 days. 0.42% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ameren Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of AEE stock opened at $99.71 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $26.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.44. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $97.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $91.97. Ameren Co. has a one year low of $69.39 and a one year high of $104.10.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last issued 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 net margin of 15.51% and a return on equity of 10.34%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. Analysts predict that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be issued a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. 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 2.85%. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on AEE. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Ameren from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group increased their target price on Ameren from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Barclays lifted their price target on Ameren from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Evercore ISI raised Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $96.70.

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.