Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) SVP Fadi M. Diya Sells 5,000 Shares

Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE – Get Rating) SVP Fadi M. Diya sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.41, for a total transaction of $422,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 94,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,979,530.53. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Ameren Price Performance

AEE opened at $83.71 on Wednesday. Ameren Co. has a one year low of $73.28 and a one year high of $99.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $85.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $86.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.41.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.07. Ameren had a net margin of 13.50% and a return on equity of 10.50%. The business had revenue of $2.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.48 earnings per share. Ameren’s revenue was up 32.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ameren Co. will post 4.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 15th will be paid a $0.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 14th. This is a boost from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.01%. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ameren

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. bought a new position in Ameren in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Natixis boosted its stake in Ameren by 26.2% in the fourth quarter. Natixis now owns 77,415 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,884,000 after acquiring an additional 16,048 shares during the last quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. boosted its stake in Ameren by 71.1% in the fourth quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 1,024,712 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $65,913,000 after acquiring an additional 425,838 shares during the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Ameren by 39.1% in the fourth quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 4,143 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $368,000 after acquiring an additional 1,164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service boosted its stake in Ameren by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 325,193 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,916,000 after acquiring an additional 1,176 shares during the last quarter. 78.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Ameren from $93.00 to $89.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Ameren from $101.00 to $97.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 17th. Finally, Guggenheim lowered shares of Ameren from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $84.00 to $89.00 in a report on Monday, January 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ameren presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $94.90.

Ameren Company Profile

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Ameren Corp. is a public utility holding company, which engages in the provision of electric and natural gas services. It operates through the following segments: Ameren Missouri, Ameren Illinois Electric Distribution, Ameren Illinois Natural Gas, Ameren Transmission, and Other. The Ameren Transmission segment consists of the aggregated electric transmission businesses of Ameren Illinois and Ameren Transmission Company of Illinois (ATXI).