Quadrant Capital Group LLC Trims Holdings in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Quadrant Capital Group LLC trimmed its position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 4.8% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,415 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 174 shares during the period. Quadrant Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Ameren were worth $279,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Ameren during the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,166,000. Moors & Cabot Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ameren during the 2nd quarter valued at about $284,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ameren by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,461,861 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $119,390,000 after acquiring an additional 20,423 shares during the last quarter. Summit X LLC increased its stake in shares of Ameren by 7.5% during the 2nd quarter. Summit X LLC now owns 20,742 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,694,000 after acquiring an additional 1,453 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Ameren by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 878,886 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $71,776,000 after acquiring an additional 38,883 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Ameren from $101.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 4th. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on shares of Ameren from $91.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 5th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Ameren from $84.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 25th. StockNews.com raised shares of Ameren from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Ameren from $80.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 24th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.89.

Ameren Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:AEE opened at $77.12 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. Ameren Co. has a 52-week low of $69.71 and a 52-week high of $92.43. The company has a 50 day moving average of $77.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $80.89. The company has a market capitalization of $20.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.47.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 9th. The utilities provider reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.80 by $0.07. Ameren had a net margin of 14.59% and a return on equity of 10.67%. The company had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.40 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.74 earnings per share. Ameren’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Ameren Co. will post 4.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 13th will be given a $0.63 dividend. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 12th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 57.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameren

In other Ameren news, CFO Michael L. Moehn sold 3,155 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.63, for a total value of $251,232.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 161,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,849,813.47. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Michael L. Moehn sold 3,155 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.63, for a total transaction of $251,232.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 161,369 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,849,813.47. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Michael L. Moehn sold 3,244 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.28, for a total value of $250,696.32. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 198,937 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,373,851.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.42% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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 and transmission businesses.