Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Acquires New Stake in Ameren Corporation $AEE

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 46,637 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,868,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Ameren by 68.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,080,775 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $425,951,000 after buying an additional 1,661,019 shares during the period. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd lifted its holdings in Ameren by 104,698.0% during the 3rd quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd now owns 1,370,758 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $143,091,000 after buying an additional 1,369,450 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Ameren by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,582,578 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,417,351,000 after buying an additional 1,268,457 shares during the period. Homestead Advisers Corp purchased a new stake in Ameren in the 3rd quarter valued at about $76,614,000. Finally, Reaves W H & Co. Inc. grew its stake in Ameren by 112.4% in the 3rd quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 964,012 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $100,624,000 after acquiring an additional 510,192 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.60, for a total value of $673,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 193,076 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,002,673.60. This trade represents a 3.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. KeyCorp lowered shares of Ameren from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $116.00 price objective on shares of Ameren in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Ameren from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Barclays decreased their target price on Ameren from $111.00 to $104.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Mizuho set a $117.00 target price on Ameren in a report on Friday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $113.30.

Ameren Trading Down 0.3%

NYSE:AEE opened at $111.17 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $105.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $103.27. Ameren Corporation has a one year low of $91.77 and a one year high of $113.64. The firm has a market cap of $30.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.66.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.69 billion. Ameren had a net margin of 16.55% and a return on equity of 10.69%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.77 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Ameren Corporation will post 4.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This is a boost from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. Ameren’s payout ratio is 53.08%.

Ameren Company Profile

Ameren Corporation (NYSE: AEE) is an integrated energy company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, that provides electric and natural gas delivery and related services in portions of Missouri and Illinois. The company operates regulated utility businesses that serve a broad mix of residential, commercial and industrial customers, and it participates in wholesale energy markets and transmission operations that support reliable service across its service territories.

Ameren’s core activities include generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, distribution of natural gas, and the provision of customer energy solutions such as demand-side management and energy efficiency programs.