Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Grows Stock Holdings in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its holdings in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 49.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,195 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,387 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Ameren were worth $374,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Metis Global Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ameren by 1.5% in the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 8,513 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $745,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC increased its position in Ameren by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 4,786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. NorthRock Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ameren by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 3,107 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $272,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 9,110 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $797,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the period. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ameren by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 10,046 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $896,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.15, for a total value of $598,975.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 205,171 shares in the company, valued at $18,906,507.65. This trade represents a 3.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ameren Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE AEE opened at $92.87 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $24.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. Ameren Co. has a 12-month low of $67.03 and a 12-month high of $96.74. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $91.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $86.68.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on AEE. Barclays lowered Ameren from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $88.00 to $95.00 in a report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Ameren from $93.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Ameren from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $92.00.

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.