Savant Capital LLC Grows Stock Position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Savant Capital LLC increased its stake in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 5.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,625 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 568 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC’s holdings in Ameren were worth $947,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of AEE. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ameren by 8,645.7% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,160,998 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,015,410,000 after buying an additional 1,147,723 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in Ameren by 59.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,631,580 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $230,158,000 after acquiring an additional 984,879 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Ameren by 3,738.0% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 745,872 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $65,234,000 after purchasing an additional 726,438 shares during the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ameren by 484.8% in the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 637,241 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $55,733,000 after purchasing an additional 528,270 shares during the period. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its stake in shares of Ameren by 26.1% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 2,318,537 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $202,779,000 after purchasing an additional 479,668 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.15, for a total value of $598,975.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 205,171 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,906,507.65. The trade was a 3.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.42% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ameren Stock Down 0.3 %

Ameren stock opened at $98.01 on Friday. Ameren Co. has a 12 month low of $68.60 and a 12 month high of $100.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.16 billion, a PE ratio of 23.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $91.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $88.24.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by ($0.06). Ameren had a return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 15.52%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Ameren Co. will post 4.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be issued a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.90%. This is a boost from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. Ameren’s payout ratio is presently 63.06%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AEE has been the topic of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Ameren from $93.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Barclays lowered shares of Ameren from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $88.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Ameren from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. One equities 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $92.00.

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.