Edge Financial Advisors LLC Purchases New Shares in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Edge Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,774 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $243,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AEE. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Ameren by 493.0% during the first quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 21,728 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,607,000 after purchasing an additional 18,064 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Ameren by 703.6% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 129,346 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,566,000 after acquiring an additional 113,250 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Ameren by 392.0% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 19,434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,382,000 after acquiring an additional 15,484 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 137.2% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 100,154 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,407,000 after acquiring an additional 57,923 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ameren during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,632,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ameren

In related news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.94, for a total transaction of $131,923.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,640,758.08. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AEE. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Ameren from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Ameren from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Ameren in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $97.00 price target on the stock. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $77.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Ameren in a research note on Friday, July 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $87.00 price target on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.80.

Ameren Stock Performance

NYSE:AEE traded up $0.15 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $86.16. The stock had a trading volume of 29,457 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,573,750. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The stock has a market cap of $22.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.45. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $85.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $78.28. Ameren Co. has a 12-month low of $67.03 and a 12-month high of $89.54.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. Ameren had a net margin of 16.28% and a return on equity of 10.20%. The business’s revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.90 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Ameren Co. will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be given a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.11%. Ameren’s payout ratio is currently 60.63%.

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.