556 Shares in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) Bought by Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC

Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 556 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $49,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AEE. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Ameren by 115.3% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 366 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in Ameren during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in Ameren by 117.6% in the first quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 370 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Ameren in the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Ameren by 108.1% during the 1st quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 435 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the period. 79.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Ameren

In other Ameren news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.94, for a total value of $131,923.40. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,640,758.08. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AEE has been the subject of several analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Ameren in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $97.00 target price for the company. Mizuho raised shares of Ameren from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $82.00 to $89.00 in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Ameren from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Ameren from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on Ameren from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.80.

Ameren Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE:AEE traded up $0.56 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $87.81. The company had a trading volume of 506,314 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,604,444. Ameren Co. has a 1 year low of $67.03 and a 1 year high of $88.46. The company has a market cap of $23.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a 50-day moving average of $84.00 and a 200 day moving average of $77.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.04. Ameren had a net margin of 16.28% and a return on equity of 10.20%. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. Ameren’s revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Ameren Co. will post 4.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.61%.

Ameren 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.