Jennison Associates LLC Has $77.11 Million Position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Jennison Associates LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 29.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,065,872 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 446,314 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC’s holdings in Ameren were worth $77,105,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Ameren by 7,133.8% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 960,286 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $694,670,000 after purchasing an additional 947,011 shares during the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Ameren by 105.0% during the 3rd quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 1,289,754 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $96,512,000 after purchasing an additional 660,654 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its holdings in Ameren by 30.4% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 2,286,264 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $171,081,000 after purchasing an additional 532,800 shares during the last quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Ameren by 1,770.6% during the 3rd quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 355,416 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,596,000 after purchasing an additional 336,416 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG lifted its holdings in Ameren by 180.0% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 521,680 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $39,037,000 after purchasing an additional 335,398 shares during the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AEE has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Ameren from $74.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Ameren in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $73.00 target price for the company. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Ameren from $77.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ameren from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Ameren from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ameren has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $79.40.

Ameren Trading Up 0.7 %

AEE opened at $74.38 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The company has a market cap of $19.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.44. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $71.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $73.53. Ameren Co. has a fifty-two week low of $67.03 and a fifty-two week high of $91.18.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $1.62 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.03 billion. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 15.36%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 20.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.63 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ameren Co. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.60%. This is an increase from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 12th. Ameren’s payout ratio is 61.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Martin J. Lyons sold 7,270 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.70, for a total transaction of $513,989.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 246,434 shares in the company, valued at $17,422,883.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Mark C. Lindgren sold 1,630 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.70, for a total transaction of $115,241.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 47,883 shares in the company, valued at $3,385,328.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Martin J. Lyons sold 7,270 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.70, for a total transaction of $513,989.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 246,434 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,422,883.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.