Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd Acquires New Shares in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new position in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 815 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $73,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AEE. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Ameren by 59.2% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 207,412 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $18,489,000 after purchasing an additional 77,113 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Ameren by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 94,351 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,410,000 after buying an additional 4,080 shares during the period. Wedbush Securities Inc. boosted its position in Ameren by 290.0% during the 4th quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 10,876 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $969,000 after acquiring an additional 8,087 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new stake in Ameren during the 4th quarter valued at $760,000. Finally, Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Ameren in the 4th quarter worth $7,323,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on Ameren from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Ameren from $102.00 to $101.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Ameren from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $96.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameren

In other Ameren news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.37, for a total value of $557,535.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 43,344 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,393,781.28. The trade was a 11.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of the 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 directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 12,959 shares of company stock valued at $1,316,712. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ameren Stock Performance

Shares of AEE stock opened at $94.19 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $98.26 and a 200 day moving average of $92.77. Ameren Co. has a 1 year low of $69.39 and a 1 year 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 firm has a market capitalization of $25.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.45.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 previous year, the firm earned $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th were given 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 11th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.25%.

Ameren Company 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.