New York State Teachers Retirement System Has $22.34 Million Holdings in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

New York State Teachers Retirement System trimmed its position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 250,625 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 6,228 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 0.09% of Ameren worth $22,341,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its position in Ameren by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 6,282 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $549,000 after purchasing an additional 860 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its position in Ameren by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 30,671 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,682,000 after purchasing an additional 2,561 shares in the last quarter. IFG Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ameren during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $220,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Ameren by 77.5% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,410 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $298,000 after purchasing an additional 1,489 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates grew its position in Ameren by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 129,727 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,346,000 after purchasing an additional 8,540 shares in the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.15, for a total value of $598,975.00. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Stock Performance

AEE stock opened at $98.01 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. The company has a market capitalization of $26.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.49. Ameren Co. has a 12 month low of $68.60 and a 12 month high of $100.62. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $92.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $88.38.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by ($0.06). Ameren had a return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 15.52%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ameren Co. will post 4.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 is a positive change from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.90%. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.06%.

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.