Meeder Advisory Services Inc. Purchases 167 Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Meeder Advisory Services Inc. grew its position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 7,008 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 167 shares during the quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Ameren were worth $625,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Ameren by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,749,446 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $600,157,000 after buying an additional 77,282 shares during the last quarter. Tradewinds LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Ameren in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $437,000. National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in shares of Ameren by 54.9% in the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 270,788 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $24,153,000 after purchasing an additional 95,948 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,939,725 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $172,907,000 after purchasing an additional 38,939 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its holdings in Ameren by 116.0% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,357,876 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $210,181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,266,051 shares during the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Ameren

In other Ameren news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.37, for a total transaction of $557,535.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 43,344 shares in the company, valued at $4,393,781.28. This represents a 11.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.27, for a total transaction of $266,901.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 14,495 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,424,423.65. The trade was a 15.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 12,959 shares of company stock worth $1,316,712. Company insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of Ameren stock opened at $101.67 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.44. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $98.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $92.44. Ameren Co. has a 1 year low of $69.39 and a 1 year high of $104.10. The company has a market capitalization of $27.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.48.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) 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 last year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were given a $0.71 dividend. This is an increase from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.79%. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on AEE shares. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Ameren from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. UBS Group increased their price target on Ameren from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Evercore ISI upgraded 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 research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Ameren from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $96.70.

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.