Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Purchases 857 Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 5.7% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 15,832 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 857 shares during the quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Ameren were worth $1,385,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in Ameren by 115.3% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 366 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares during the period. First Command Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ameren during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ameren in the first quarter valued at about $31,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC grew its position in Ameren by 108.1% during the first quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 435 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Ameren by 227.3% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 455 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 316 shares during the period. 79.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Bank of America raised their price objective on Ameren from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Argus raised Ameren to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Mizuho raised shares of Ameren from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $82.00 to $89.00 in a report on Monday, September 16th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Ameren from $77.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Ameren from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ameren has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ameren news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of the business’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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,640,758.08. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Trading Up 0.2 %

AEE stock opened at $86.02 on Tuesday. 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 market capitalization of $22.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.45. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $85.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $78.69. Ameren Co. has a fifty-two week low of $67.03 and a fifty-two week high of $89.54.

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 given a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.12%. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 60.63%.

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.