SG Americas Securities LLC Purchases 142,167 Shares of Ameren Corporation $AEE

SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) by 5,781.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 144,626 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 142,167 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Ameren were worth $14,442,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Ameren by 2.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,045,845 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,466,105,000 after purchasing an additional 328,401 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in Ameren by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,283,529 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $655,892,000 after buying an additional 60,519 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Ameren by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,140,239 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $536,538,000 after buying an additional 49,282 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 68.6% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,080,775 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $425,951,000 after buying an additional 1,661,019 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 3,378,053 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $352,601,000 after buying an additional 116,819 shares in the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on AEE shares. Barclays cut their target price on Ameren from $111.00 to $104.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Ameren from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Mizuho set a $117.00 price objective on Ameren in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Ameren from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 21st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $116.00 target price on shares of Ameren in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $113.45.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.60, for a total value 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.42% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ameren Price Performance

Ameren stock opened at $108.52 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $108.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $104.14. Ameren Corporation has a 12 month low of $91.77 and a 12 month high of $113.93. The company has a market cap of $30.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.28, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35.

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

Ameren Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This is a boost from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.07%.

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.