Bank of New York Mellon Corp Sells 42,904 Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp reduced its stake in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,645,336 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 42,904 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Ameren were worth $146,665,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ameren during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. 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 valued at $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 valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in shares of Ameren during the third quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in shares of Ameren during the third quarter valued at approximately $74,000. 79.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AEE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted 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. Barclays lowered Ameren from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $88.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Evercore ISI upgraded Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One equities 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ameren currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $92.70.

Ameren Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AEE opened at $101.74 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $27.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.49. Ameren Co. has a 52 week low of $69.39 and a 52 week high of $101.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $93.93 and a 200 day moving average of $89.66.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by ($0.06). Ameren had a return on equity of 10.34% and a net margin of 15.51%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be paid a $0.71 dividend. This is an increase from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.79%. Ameren’s payout ratio is 60.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 14,495 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,424,423.65. This represents a 15.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.