Savant Capital LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Savant Capital LLC grew its stake in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 5.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 10,625 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 568 shares during the quarter. Savant Capital LLC’s holdings in Ameren were worth $947,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Metis Global Partners LLC grew its holdings in Ameren by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 8,513 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $745,000 after buying an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Ameren by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 4,786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ameren by 4.2% in the third quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 3,107 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $272,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its position in Ameren by 16.3% during the fourth quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 980 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $87,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its stake in Ameren by 1.7% during the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 9,110 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $797,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the firm’s 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 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of AEE opened at $98.01 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $26.16 billion, a PE ratio of 23.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.49. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $91.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $88.24. Ameren Co. has a 1 year low of $68.60 and a 1 year high of $100.62.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.83 by ($0.06). Ameren had a net margin of 15.52% and a return on equity of 10.09%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Ameren Co. will post 4.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be given a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.90%. This is a positive change from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.06%.

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.