Stanley Laman Group Ltd. Invests $220,000 in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Stanley Laman Group Ltd. bought a new position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 2,519 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $220,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Ameren by 493.0% in the 1st quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 21,728 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,607,000 after purchasing an additional 18,064 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in Ameren by 703.6% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 129,346 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,566,000 after purchasing an additional 113,250 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Ameren by 392.0% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 19,434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,382,000 after purchasing an additional 15,484 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in Ameren by 137.2% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 100,154 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,407,000 after purchasing an additional 57,923 shares during the period. Finally, Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new position in Ameren in the 2nd quarter worth about $2,632,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ameren

In other news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.94, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Ameren from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Ameren in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $97.00 target price for the company. Barclays increased their target price on Ameren from $77.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Bank of America increased their target price on Ameren from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Ameren from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ameren has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.80.

Ameren Price Performance

NYSE:AEE opened at $89.20 on Thursday. Ameren Co. has a one year low of $67.03 and a one year high of $89.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market cap of $23.79 billion, a PE ratio of 20.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.45. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $85.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $77.82.

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

Ameren Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.00%. Ameren’s payout ratio is 61.61%.

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.