Legal & General Group Plc Has $180.26 Million Stock Holdings in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its holdings in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 16.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,022,185 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 397,607 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Ameren were worth $180,258,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Polymer Capital Management US LLC bought a new position in shares of Ameren during the fourth quarter valued at $2,674,000. Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Ameren by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 23,143 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,046,000 after buying an additional 1,295 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Ameren by 96.5% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,170,709 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $460,917,000 after buying an additional 2,539,129 shares during the period. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new position in shares of Ameren during the 4th quarter valued at about $73,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 59.2% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 207,412 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $18,489,000 after purchasing an additional 77,113 shares in the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 $4,393,781.28. This trade represents a 11.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 15.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 12,959 shares of company stock valued at $1,316,712 over the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ameren Stock Performance

Shares of AEE opened at $96.52 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 one year low of $69.39 and a one year high of $104.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.84, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.45. The business has a fifty day moving average of $98.35 and a 200 day moving average of $92.87.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 in the previous year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is a boost from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.94%. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AEE has been the topic of several research reports. Evercore ISI upgraded Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays decreased their price objective on Ameren from $102.00 to $101.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group upped their target price on Ameren from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Ameren from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $96.60.

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.