Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 13.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,021 shares during the quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in Ameren were worth $749,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Ameren by 392.0% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 19,434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,382,000 after acquiring an additional 15,484 shares during the period. Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ameren in the second quarter valued at $2,632,000. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in shares of Ameren by 137.2% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 100,154 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,407,000 after acquiring an additional 57,923 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ameren by 17.7% in the first quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 172,441 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,754,000 after acquiring an additional 25,898 shares during the period. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ameren by 64.1% in the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 38,517 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,849,000 after acquiring an additional 15,045 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.94, for a total value of $131,923.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,432 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,640,758.08. This trade represents a 3.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AEE shares. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Ameren from $77.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Argus upgraded shares of Ameren to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Ameren from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Ameren from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Ameren in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $97.00 price target on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.80.

Ameren Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of Ameren stock opened at $91.22 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.41. Ameren Co. has a 1 year low of $67.03 and a 1 year high of $92.77. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $87.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $79.68. The stock has a market cap of $24.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.46, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.45.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. Ameren’s payout ratio is 63.06%.

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.