Amalgamated Bank Grows Stake in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Amalgamated Bank boosted its stake in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 53,027 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 638 shares during the quarter. Amalgamated Bank’s holdings in Ameren were worth $4,727,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co raised its holdings in shares of Ameren by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 3,777 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $337,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc raised its stake in Ameren by 84.9% in the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 1,387 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $124,000 after purchasing an additional 637 shares during the last quarter. RWC Asset Management LLP purchased a new position in Ameren in the 4th quarter valued at $9,337,000. Paradigm Asset Management Co. LLC acquired a new stake in Ameren during the 4th quarter worth $1,293,000. Finally, Laidlaw Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Ameren during the 4th quarter worth $318,000. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.27, for a total value of $266,901.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 14,495 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,424,423.65. This trade represents a 15.78 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AEE has been the topic of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Ameren from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Evercore ISI upgraded Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Barclays downgraded Ameren from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $88.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ameren presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $92.70.

Ameren Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of Ameren stock opened at $99.69 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $93.68 and a 200 day moving average of $89.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.55, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.49. Ameren Co. has a fifty-two week low of $69.39 and a fifty-two week high of $100.61.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last released 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 10.34% and a net margin of 15.51%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current 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 dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. This is a boost from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.85%. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 60.63%.

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.