Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) Shares Bought by T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc.

T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 16.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 17,038,754 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,439,811 shares during the quarter. Ameren makes up approximately 0.9% of T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. owned about 6.38% of Ameren worth $1,518,835,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC raised its stake in Ameren by 0.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 489,935 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,849,000 after buying an additional 1,856 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ameren in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $215,000. Tudor Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ameren during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $463,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in Ameren during the third quarter worth $74,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Ameren by 6.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 331,801 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,019,000 after purchasing an additional 19,217 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on AEE shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Ameren from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Ameren from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Evercore ISI upgraded Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Ameren from $102.00 to $101.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $99.22.

Ameren Price Performance

Shares of AEE opened at $99.17 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.45. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $98.54 and its 200-day moving average is $93.56. Ameren Co. has a one year low of $69.39 and a one year high of $104.10. 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 released its quarterly earnings results 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 earned $0.60 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 11th. This is a boost from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.86%. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.25%.

Insider Transactions at Ameren

In other news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.37, for a total value of $557,535.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 43,344 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,393,781.28. The trade was a 11.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.79, for a total transaction of $492,275.97. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 57,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,966,471.94. This represents a 7.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 12,959 shares of company stock valued at $1,316,712. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

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.