Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Has $703,000 Stake in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC decreased its stake in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 30.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,887 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,376 shares during the quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ameren were worth $703,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AEE. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Ameren in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in Ameren in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. lifted its stake in Ameren by 134.5% in the fourth quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 544 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 312 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. lifted its stake in Ameren by 86.2% in 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. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Ameren by 49.4% in 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 during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Stock Up 1.3 %

NYSE:AEE opened at $99.26 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.66. The company has a market cap of $26.79 billion, a PE ratio of 22.46, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.48. Ameren Co. has a 52-week low of $69.39 and a 52-week high of $104.10. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $95.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $90.96.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 15.51% and a return on equity of 10.34%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be paid a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.86%. This is an increase from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameren

In other news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.37, for a total transaction of $557,535.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 value of $492,275.97. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 57,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,966,471.94. This represents a 7.62 % 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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on AEE. Morgan Stanley raised 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. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays raised their price target on Ameren from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ameren presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $93.40.

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.