National Bank of Canada FI Acquires 95,948 Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 54.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 270,788 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 95,948 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI owned approximately 0.10% of Ameren worth $24,153,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Townsquare Capital LLC bought a new stake in Ameren during the third quarter valued at $437,000. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its stake in shares of Ameren by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 9,982 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $873,000 after purchasing an additional 439 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Ameren by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 27,087 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,374,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its stake in Ameren by 50.3% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 168,242 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $14,714,000 after purchasing an additional 56,270 shares during the period. Finally, Investment Management Corp of Ontario increased its holdings in Ameren by 50.9% in the third quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 8,895 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $778,000 after purchasing an additional 3,000 shares in the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Ameren news, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.79, for a total value of $492,275.97. Following the transaction, the insider now 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,344 shares of the company’s stock, 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 sold a total of 12,959 shares of company stock valued at $1,316,712 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AEE. 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. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Ameren from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Ameren from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Ameren from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $96.70.

Ameren Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of Ameren stock opened at $101.67 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $98.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $92.44. Ameren Co. has a 12-month low of $69.39 and a 12-month high of $104.10. The company has a market capitalization of $27.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.48.

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 net margin of 15.51% and a return on equity of 10.34%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were paid a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 11th. This is an increase from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Ameren’s payout ratio is presently 64.25%.

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.