Venturi Wealth Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 164.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,564 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 973 shares during the quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Ameren were worth $139,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Ameren by 59.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,631,580 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $230,158,000 after buying an additional 984,879 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC boosted its stake in Ameren by 484.8% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 637,241 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $55,733,000 after buying an additional 528,270 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its stake in Ameren by 26.1% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 2,318,537 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $202,779,000 after buying an additional 479,668 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in Ameren by 42.1% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,469,037 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $130,950,000 after buying an additional 434,889 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Ameren by 51.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,064,877 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $93,134,000 after buying an additional 362,772 shares during the period. 79.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.27, for a total transaction of $266,901.32. Following 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on AEE. Barclays lowered shares of Ameren from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $88.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Ameren from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $92.70.

Ameren Stock Performance

AEE stock opened at $98.52 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $26.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.29, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.49. 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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $92.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $88.99. Ameren Co. has a 1-year low of $69.39 and a 1-year high of $100.61.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 EPS 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 in the prior year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be issued a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. This is an increase from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.88%. Ameren’s payout ratio is currently 60.63%.

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.