Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co Buys 225 Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co increased its stake in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 6.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,777 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co’s holdings in Ameren were worth $337,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AEE. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Ameren during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. grew its position in Ameren by 134.5% during 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 during the period. Mather Group LLC. increased its holdings in Ameren by 86.2% during 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 during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in Ameren in the third quarter worth approximately $56,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in shares of Ameren during the 3rd quarter worth $74,000. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AEE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Evercore ISI upgraded Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Ameren from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Barclays cut shares of Ameren from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $88.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $92.70.

Ameren Stock Down 0.1 %

AEE opened at $99.33 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $26.81 billion, a PE ratio of 22.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.49. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $93.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $89.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. Ameren Co. has a 52 week low of $69.39 and a 52 week high of $100.61.

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

Ameren Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be given a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. This is a boost from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Ameren’s payout ratio is currently 60.63%.

Insider Activity at Ameren

In other Ameren news, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.27, for a total transaction of $266,901.32. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 14,495 shares in the company, valued at $1,424,423.65. This represents a 15.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.36% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.