Signaturefd LLC Has $453,000 Stock Position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Signaturefd LLC lessened its position in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 11.0% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 6,367 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 787 shares during the quarter. Signaturefd LLC’s holdings in Ameren were worth $453,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Ameren by 115.3% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 366 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in Ameren in the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lifted its stake in Ameren by 117.6% in the first quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 370 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ameren during the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ameren during the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AEE has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Ameren in a research report on Friday, July 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $87.00 target price on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Ameren from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Barclays upgraded Ameren from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $73.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Ameren from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Ameren from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ameren presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $81.00.

Ameren Price Performance

AEE stock opened at $82.51 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.67. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $77.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $74.02. The company has a market capitalization of $22.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.44. Ameren Co. has a 52-week low of $67.03 and a 52-week high of $84.40.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 16.28%. Ameren’s quarterly revenue was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Ameren Co. will post 4.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 11th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.25%. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is currently 61.61%.

Insider Activity at Ameren

In other Ameren news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.94, for a total value of $131,923.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,640,758.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.94, for a total transaction of $131,923.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,432 shares in the company, valued at $3,640,758.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Rafael Flores sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.29, for a total value of $106,935.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,768 shares in the company, valued at approximately $981,520.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.42% of the stock is 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.