Profund Advisors LLC Purchases 4,913 Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Profund Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 50.1% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 14,725 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,913 shares during the period. Profund Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ameren were worth $1,047,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in Ameren by 36.3% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 14,619 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,039,000 after buying an additional 3,897 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of Ameren by 79.1% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 246,030 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $17,496,000 after purchasing an additional 108,664 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ameren by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 18,630 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,325,000 after purchasing an additional 864 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its position in Ameren by 155.6% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 648,306 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $46,101,000 after purchasing an additional 394,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Ameren by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 39,421 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,803,000 after purchasing an additional 904 shares during the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameren

In other news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.94, for a total value of $131,923.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,432 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,640,758.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on AEE shares. UBS Group began coverage on Ameren in a research note on Friday, July 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $87.00 price target for the company. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Ameren in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $97.00 price target on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Ameren from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Ameren from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Ameren from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $85.00.

Ameren Trading Up 0.0 %

AEE opened at $85.65 on Tuesday. Ameren Co. has a twelve month low of $67.03 and a twelve month high of $86.15. The company has a fifty day moving average of $81.23 and a 200-day moving average of $75.56. The stock has a market cap of $22.84 billion, a PE ratio of 19.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. The business’s revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ameren Co. will post 4.62 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.13%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 11th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.61%.

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.