Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) Shares Purchased by Blue Trust Inc.

Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 77.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,410 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,489 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Ameren were worth $298,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ameren by 2.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,092,435 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,447,516,000 after purchasing an additional 802,714 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Ameren by 25.0% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 22,931,588 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,696,022,000 after acquiring an additional 4,593,638 shares during the period. Zimmer Partners LP lifted its stake in Ameren by 204.3% during the 1st quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 3,827,897 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $283,111,000 after acquiring an additional 2,569,897 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,877,721 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $212,836,000 after acquiring an additional 23,967 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Ameren by 106.1% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,498,158 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $177,644,000 after acquiring an additional 1,286,162 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, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,640,758.08. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ameren Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of AEE stock opened at $88.99 on Friday. Ameren Co. has a 1-year low of $67.03 and a 1-year high of $89.54. The company has a market cap of $23.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.13, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $85.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $77.82.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.04. Ameren had a net margin of 16.28% and a return on equity of 10.20%. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.90 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ameren Co. will post 4.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is presently 60.63%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AEE has been the subject of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Ameren from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Ameren from $77.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Ameren in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $97.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Ameren from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Ameren from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ameren has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.80.

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.