217,259 Shares in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) Acquired by Raymond James Financial Inc.

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 217,259 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $19,367,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.08% of Ameren as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ameren by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,749,446 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $600,157,000 after purchasing an additional 77,282 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Ameren by 96.5% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,170,709 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $460,917,000 after acquiring an additional 2,539,129 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its stake in shares of Ameren by 1,732.4% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 3,068,505 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $273,527,000 after acquiring an additional 2,901,047 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Ameren by 116.0% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,357,876 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $210,181,000 after acquiring an additional 1,266,051 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Ameren by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,939,725 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $172,907,000 after purchasing an additional 38,939 shares during the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AEE. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays lowered their price target on Ameren from $102.00 to $101.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Ameren from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ameren has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $99.22.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.79, for a total value of $492,275.97. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 57,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,966,471.94. This trade represents a 7.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.27, for a total value of $266,901.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 14,495 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,424,423.65. The trade was a 15.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,959 shares of company stock worth $1,316,712 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Stock Performance

AEE opened at $98.31 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $26.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.44. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $98.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $93.42. Ameren Co. has a 1 year low of $69.39 and a 1 year high of $104.10.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by ($0.06). Ameren had a return on equity of 10.34% and a net margin of 15.51%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.89%. This is an increase from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 11th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.25%.

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.