HighTower Advisors LLC Has $2.23 Million Stock Position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

HighTower Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE – Get Rating) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,975 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 671 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ameren were worth $2,227,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Ameren by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,211 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $285,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Ameren by 14.1% during the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 1,019 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $91,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its holdings in Ameren by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 23,298 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,072,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. boosted its holdings in Ameren by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 2,046 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $182,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Checchi Capital Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in Ameren by 5.6% during the third quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 2,864 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $231,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ameren news, SVP Fadi M. Diya sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.41, for a total transaction of $422,050.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 94,533 shares in the company, valued at $7,979,530.53. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Ameren news, Director Rafael Flores sold 1,900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.15, for a total transaction of $163,685.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 14,172 shares in the company, valued at $1,220,917.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 94,533 shares in the company, valued at $7,979,530.53. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 63,509 shares of company stock valued at $5,221,792. 0.42% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ameren Price Performance

Shares of AEE opened at $82.71 on Wednesday. Ameren Co. has a fifty-two week low of $73.28 and a fifty-two week high of $97.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.72 billion, a PE ratio of 19.83, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.43. The company’s 50-day moving average is $87.30 and its 200-day moving average is $86.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.52.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.06. Ameren had a net margin of 13.34% and a return on equity of 10.41%. The business had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.95 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.97 earnings per share. Ameren’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Ameren Co. will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $0.63 per share. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 13th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is 60.43%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on AEE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Ameren from $102.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 19th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Ameren from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 10th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Ameren from $96.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Ameren from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 20th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Ameren from $91.00 to $87.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 16th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ameren currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $95.00.

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).