Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) Insider Shawn E. Schukar Sells 4,743 Shares

Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.79, for a total transaction of $492,275.97. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 57,486 shares in the company, valued at $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 through this link.

Ameren Price Performance

NYSE AEE traded down $3.66 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $100.01. 2,791,420 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,425,040. 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 company has a market cap of $26.99 billion, a PE ratio of 22.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.49. Ameren Co. has a fifty-two week low of $69.39 and a fifty-two week high of $106.06. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $94.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $90.06.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 15.51% and a return on equity of 10.34%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. This is a boost from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.84%. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.25%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ameren

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AEE. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted 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 buying an additional 2,901,047 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings 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 worth $460,917,000 after purchasing an additional 2,539,129 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 16.7% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 17,038,754 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,518,835,000 after purchasing an additional 2,439,811 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,266,051 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 76.7% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,134,288 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $190,250,000 after purchasing an additional 926,126 shares in the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AEE. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Ameren from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $89.00 to $104.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Ameren from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $93.40.

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.