Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Takes Position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 3,698 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $330,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. CWA Asset Management Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Ameren by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 4,786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC increased its position in Ameren by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 6,276 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $559,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its position in Ameren by 16.3% in the fourth quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 980 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $87,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC increased its position in Ameren by 1.7% in the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 9,110 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $797,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the period. Finally, Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC increased its position in Ameren by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 7,665 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $683,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the period. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays lifted their price objective on Ameren from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Evercore ISI upgraded Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Ameren from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Ameren from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $96.70.

Ameren Trading Down 1.1 %

NYSE:AEE opened at $98.89 on Friday. Ameren Co. has a fifty-two week low of $69.39 and a fifty-two week high of $104.10. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $26.69 billion, a PE ratio of 22.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.48. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $96.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $91.45.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.83 by ($0.06). Ameren had a net margin of 15.51% and a return on equity of 10.34%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be given a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.87%. This is an increase from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is 64.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ameren news, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.79, for a total value of $492,275.97. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 57,486 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,966,471.94. The trade was a 7.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.37, for a total transaction of $557,535.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,344 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,393,781.28. This trade represents a 11.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,959 shares of company stock valued at $1,316,712 in the last quarter. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.