Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd Purchases New Shares in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 815 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $73,000.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its stake in shares of Ameren by 1,732.4% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 3,068,505 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $273,527,000 after purchasing an additional 2,901,047 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its holdings in Ameren by 116.0% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,357,876 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $210,181,000 after buying an additional 1,266,051 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in Ameren by 42.1% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,469,037 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $130,950,000 after buying an additional 434,889 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Ameren by 51.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,064,877 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $93,134,000 after acquiring an additional 362,772 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ameren in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $19,367,000. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameren

In other news, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.79, for a total value of $492,275.97. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 57,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,966,471.94. The trade was a 7.62 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.37, for a total transaction of $557,535.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 43,344 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,393,781.28. This represents a 11.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,959 shares of company stock valued at $1,316,712 over the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ameren Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE AEE opened at $94.19 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $25.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.45. 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 company has a 50 day simple moving average of $98.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $92.77. Ameren Co. has a 1 year low of $69.39 and a 1 year high of $104.10.

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 the consensus estimate 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 period last year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th were issued a $0.71 dividend. This is a positive change from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 11th. Ameren’s payout ratio is 64.25%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on AEE. Barclays dropped their price target on Ameren from $102.00 to $101.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Ameren from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Ameren from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $96.60.

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.