Alliancebernstein L.P. Purchases 1,266,051 Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 116.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,357,876 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,266,051 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P.’s holdings in Ameren were worth $210,181,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Ameren by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,139,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,149,221,000 after purchasing an additional 334,752 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Ameren by 1.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,672,164 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $581,661,000 after buying an additional 127,287 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of Ameren by 0.9% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,561,994 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $398,992,000 after buying an additional 39,300 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in Ameren by 59.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,631,580 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $230,158,000 after buying an additional 984,879 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Ameren by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,696,831 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $151,256,000 after acquiring an additional 43,289 shares during the period. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AEE. Barclays upped their target price on Ameren from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Ameren from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Ameren from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $96.70.

Ameren Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE:AEE opened at $100.69 on Tuesday. Ameren Co. has a 52 week low of $69.39 and a 52 week high of $104.10. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $97.77 and its 200-day moving average is $92.20. The firm has a market cap of $27.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.66.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.83 by ($0.06). Ameren had a net margin of 15.51% and a return on equity of 10.34%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th were paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is an increase from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 11th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is 64.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameren

In other Ameren news, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.79, for a total value of $492,275.97. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 57,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,966,471.94. This trade represents a 7.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.27, for a total transaction of $266,901.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 14,495 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,424,423.65. The trade was a 15.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 12,959 shares of company stock valued at $1,316,712. Company insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

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.