Harbour Investments Inc. Has $135,000 Holdings in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Harbour Investments Inc. increased its holdings in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 600.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,520 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,303 shares during the period. Harbour Investments Inc.’s holdings in Ameren were worth $135,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ameren in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ameren in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Ameren by 49.4% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. raised its position in shares of Ameren by 86.2% in the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 540 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ST Germain D J Co. Inc. raised its position in shares of Ameren by 134.5% in the fourth quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 544 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 312 shares in the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AEE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ameren has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $96.70.

Ameren Stock Performance

NYSE AEE opened at $98.89 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $96.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $91.51. The stock has a market cap of $26.69 billion, a PE ratio of 22.37, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.48. Ameren Co. has a fifty-two week low of $69.39 and a fifty-two week high of $104.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.66.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by ($0.06). Ameren had a return on equity of 10.34% and a net margin of 15.51%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be paid a $0.71 dividend. This is a boost from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.87%. Ameren’s payout ratio is currently 64.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.27, for a total value of $266,901.32. Following the transaction, the director now owns 14,495 shares in the company, valued at $1,424,423.65. The trade was a 15.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.79, for a total transaction of $492,275.97. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 57,486 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,966,471.94. The trade was a 7.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 12,959 shares of company stock valued at $1,316,712 over the last 90 days. 0.42% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.