IFM Investors Pty Ltd Lowers Stake in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

IFM Investors Pty Ltd reduced its holdings in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 12.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 78,937 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 11,220 shares during the period. IFM Investors Pty Ltd’s holdings in Ameren were worth $6,904,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Ameren by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,092,435 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,447,516,000 after acquiring an additional 802,714 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Ameren by 25.0% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 22,931,588 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,696,022,000 after acquiring an additional 4,593,638 shares during the period. Zimmer Partners LP lifted its position in Ameren by 204.3% during the 1st quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 3,827,897 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $283,111,000 after acquiring an additional 2,569,897 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in Ameren by 0.8% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,877,721 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $212,836,000 after buying an additional 23,967 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in Ameren by 106.1% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,498,158 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $177,644,000 after buying an additional 1,286,162 shares during the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on AEE shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Ameren from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Ameren from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Ameren from $77.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Mizuho raised shares of Ameren from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $82.00 to $89.00 in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Ameren in a report on Friday, July 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $87.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ameren news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.94, for a total value of $131,923.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,432 shares in the company, valued at $3,640,758.08. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Stock Down 1.4 %

AEE opened at $87.80 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. Ameren Co. has a 1-year low of $67.03 and a 1-year high of $89.54. The company has a market capitalization of $23.41 billion, a PE ratio of 20.18, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.45. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $85.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $77.89.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.04. Ameren had a net margin of 16.28% and a return on equity of 10.20%. The business had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ameren Co. will post 4.62 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be given a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.05%. Ameren’s payout ratio is currently 61.61%.

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.