Dean Investment Associates LLC Buys 1,827 Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Dean Investment Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 4.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 42,090 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,827 shares during the quarter. Dean Investment Associates LLC’s holdings in Ameren were worth $3,752,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ameren by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,749,446 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $600,157,000 after purchasing an additional 77,282 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Ameren by 96.5% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,170,709 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $460,917,000 after buying an additional 2,539,129 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 1,732.4% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 3,068,505 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $273,527,000 after acquiring an additional 2,901,047 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position in shares of Ameren by 116.0% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,357,876 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $210,181,000 after acquiring an additional 1,266,051 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Ameren by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,939,725 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $172,907,000 after acquiring an additional 38,939 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays cut their target price on Ameren from $102.00 to $101.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Ameren from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. 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 report 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 stock from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Ameren from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $99.22.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameren

In other news, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.79, for a total value of $492,275.97. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 57,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,966,471.94. This trade represents a 7.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.37, for a total transaction of $557,535.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,344 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,393,781.28. The trade was a 11.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,959 shares of company stock worth $1,316,712 over the last ninety days. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ameren Price Performance

Ameren stock opened at $98.10 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.19, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.45. The business has a 50-day moving average of $98.51 and a 200-day moving average of $93.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. Ameren Co. has a 1 year low of $69.39 and a 1 year high of $104.10.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced its quarterly 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 in the prior year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 EPS 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 given a $0.71 dividend. This is a boost from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 11th. Ameren’s payout ratio is currently 64.25%.

Ameren Company 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.