Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) Stake Boosted by Guggenheim Capital LLC

Guggenheim Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 33,338 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 556 shares during the quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC’s holdings in Ameren were worth $2,972,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Ameren in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ameren in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ameren in the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ameren by 49.4% during 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. Finally, Mather Group LLC. raised its position 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 period. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Ameren news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.37, for a total value of $557,535.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,344 shares of the company’s stock, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.27, for a total transaction of $266,901.32. Following the transaction, the director now owns 14,495 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,424,423.65. The trade was a 15.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 12,959 shares of company stock valued at $1,316,712. 0.42% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on AEE shares. Barclays lowered their target price on Ameren from $102.00 to $101.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective 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. Evercore ISI upgraded 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. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Ameren from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target 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. Four research 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ameren has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $99.22.

Ameren Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of AEE stock opened at $98.31 on Friday. Ameren Co. has a 12 month low of $69.39 and a 12 month high of $104.10. The company has a market cap of $26.54 billion, a PE ratio of 22.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The business’s 50 day moving average is $98.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $93.42.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 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 quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders 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. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date 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.