Bleakley Financial Group LLC Has $541,000 Holdings in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Bleakley Financial Group LLC lessened its stake in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,067 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 215 shares during the quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Ameren were worth $541,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 2.6% in 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 lifted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted 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 worth $398,992,000 after purchasing an additional 39,300 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 984,879 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Price Performance

NYSE:AEE opened at $97.05 on Tuesday. Ameren Co. has a one year low of $67.03 and a one year high of $97.99. The company has a market cap of $25.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.49. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $91.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $87.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.41.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be issued a $0.71 dividend. 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 2.93%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. Ameren’s payout ratio is currently 63.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameren

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

AEE has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted 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. Barclays lowered shares of Ameren from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $88.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $93.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, 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 research report on Tuesday, January 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $92.00.

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.