HighTower Advisors LLC Has $4.52 Million Position in Ameren Corporation $AEE

HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) by 34.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 43,269 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,995 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ameren were worth $4,516,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley set a $116.00 price target on Ameren in a research note on Friday. KeyCorp lowered shares of Ameren from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Ameren from $112.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Mizuho set a $117.00 price target on shares of Ameren in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. 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 given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ameren presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $113.30.

Insider Activity at Ameren

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 sale, the insider owned 193,076 shares of the company’s stock, 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 SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ameren Stock Up 0.1%

Ameren stock opened at $111.22 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $103.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $102.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.66. Ameren Corporation has a 52-week low of $91.77 and a 52-week high of $112.65. The firm has a market cap of $30.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.79, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.57.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share 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 net margin of 16.55% and a return on equity of 10.69%. Ameren’s quarterly revenue was down 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.77 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Ameren Corporation will post 4.93 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. This is a positive change from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.08%.

Ameren 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.