Farringdon Capital Ltd. Takes Position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Farringdon Capital Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 10,872 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $969,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of AEE. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its stake in shares of Ameren by 1,732.4% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 3,068,505 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $273,527,000 after buying an additional 2,901,047 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ameren by 96.5% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,170,709 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $460,917,000 after purchasing an additional 2,539,129 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 116.0% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,357,876 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $210,181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,266,051 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in Ameren by 42.1% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,469,037 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $130,950,000 after buying an additional 434,889 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Ameren by 51.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,064,877 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $93,134,000 after buying an additional 362,772 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameren

In other Ameren news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.37, for a total transaction of $557,535.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,344 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,393,781.28. The trade was a 11.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 14,495 shares in the company, valued at $1,424,423.65. This trade represents a 15.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 12,959 shares of company stock valued at $1,316,712. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Stock Down 0.9 %

AEE opened at $98.10 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.44. Ameren Co. has a 12 month low of $69.39 and a 12 month high of $104.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.45. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $98.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $93.23.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last released its 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 net margin of 15.51% and a return on equity of 10.34%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is a positive change from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.90%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 11th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays lowered 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. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. UBS Group boosted their price target 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Ameren from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ameren currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $99.22.

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.