Russell Investments Group Ltd. Purchases 13,783 Shares of Ameren Corporation $AEE

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 280,829 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,783 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned approximately 0.10% of Ameren worth $29,312,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameren

In other news, insider Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.60, for a total transaction of $673,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 193,076 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,002,673.60. This represents a 3.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Price Performance

Ameren stock opened at $109.98 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.56, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.56. Ameren Corporation has a 52-week low of $91.77 and a 52-week high of $113.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.66. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $106.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $103.41.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.01. Ameren had a net margin of 16.55% and a return on equity of 10.69%. The company had revenue of $1.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.69 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.77 EPS. Ameren’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Ameren Corporation will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. This is an increase from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. Ameren’s payout ratio is presently 56.07%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Ameren from $112.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Ameren from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Ameren from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $116.00 price target on shares of Ameren in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Ameren from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $113.30.

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.