Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC Buys 568 Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 17.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 3,795 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 568 shares during the quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Ameren were worth $338,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AEE. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Ameren during the 3rd quarter worth about $44,000. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ameren by 134.5% during the fourth quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 544 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 312 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. boosted its position in shares of Ameren by 86.2% during the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 540 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the period. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ameren during the third quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in Ameren in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $56,000. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AEE. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $93.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Ameren from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays cut Ameren from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $88.00 to $95.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $89.00 to $104.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $92.00.

Insider Transactions at Ameren

In other Ameren news, CFO Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.15, for a total transaction of $598,975.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 205,171 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,906,507.65. This trade represents a 3.07 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ameren Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE:AEE opened at $97.05 on Tuesday. Ameren Co. has a 52-week low of $67.03 and a 52-week high of $97.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.63. The company has a market capitalization of $25.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $91.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $87.83.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be given a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.93%. This is a boost from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.06%.

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.