Ameren Corporation $AEE Stock Holdings Lowered by Xponance Inc.

Xponance Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) by 12.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 40,735 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 5,948 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Ameren were worth $4,252,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. NewSquare Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ameren by 70.9% in the 2nd quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 258 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. purchased a new position in Ameren in the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Ameren by 6,040.0% during the 2nd quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. now owns 307 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 302 shares during the period. Addison Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Ameren by 728.9% during the second quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 315 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ameren by 49.0% during the second quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 362 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AEE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Ameren from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 21st. Mizuho set a $117.00 price objective on Ameren in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ameren in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Ameren from $111.00 to $104.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $113.30.

Ameren Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of Ameren stock opened at $113.17 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $104.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $102.81. Ameren Corporation has a 1 year low of $91.77 and a 1 year high of $113.44. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. The company has a market cap of $31.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.15, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.56.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.01. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.69% and a net margin of 16.55%.The firm had revenue of $1.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.69 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.77 earnings per share. Ameren’s quarterly revenue was down 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ameren Corporation will post 4.93 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. This is a boost from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Ameren’s payout ratio is currently 53.08%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.60, for a total transaction of $673,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 193,076 shares in the company, valued at $20,002,673.60. This trade represents a 3.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Company Profile

Ameren Corporation (NYSE: AEE) is an integrated energy company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, that provides electric and natural gas delivery and related services in portions of Missouri and Illinois. The company operates regulated utility businesses that serve a broad mix of residential, commercial and industrial customers, and it participates in wholesale energy markets and transmission operations that support reliable service across its service territories.

Ameren’s core activities include generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, distribution of natural gas, and the provision of customer energy solutions such as demand-side management and energy efficiency programs.