Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co Purchases Shares of 20,018 Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co purchased a new position in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 20,018 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,784,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Ameren by 59.8% during the 3rd 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. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its stake in shares of Ameren by 26.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 479,668 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Ameren by 42.1% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,469,037 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $130,950,000 after acquiring an additional 434,889 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Ameren by 51.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,064,877 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $93,134,000 after purchasing an additional 362,772 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp raised its holdings in Ameren by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,139,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,149,221,000 after purchasing an additional 334,752 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ameren

In related news, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.27, for a total value of $266,901.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 14,495 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,424,423.65. This represents a 15.78 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,344 shares in the company, valued at $4,393,781.28. The trade was a 11.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:AEE opened at $99.71 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.66. Ameren Co. has a 52-week low of $69.39 and a 52-week high of $104.10. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $97.64 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $92.02. The firm has a market cap of $26.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.56, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.48.

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

Ameren Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is a boost from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on AEE shares. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Ameren from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. UBS Group increased their price target on Ameren from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Evercore ISI raised Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Ameren from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $96.70.

About Ameren

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.