Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) Shares Sold by Parkside Financial Bank & Trust

Parkside Financial Bank & Trust decreased its holdings in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,872 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 125 shares during the quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust’s holdings in Ameren were worth $880,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Prosperitas Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ameren by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Prosperitas Financial LLC now owns 32,784 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,922,000 after acquiring an additional 1,557 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ameren by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 48,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,332,000 after acquiring an additional 2,909 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ameren in the fourth quarter worth about $4,180,000. Kovack Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ameren by 63.9% in the fourth quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 4,662 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $416,000 after acquiring an additional 1,818 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. raised its stake in Ameren by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 45,900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,092,000 after buying an additional 1,700 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AEE has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Ameren from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Barclays cut Ameren from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $88.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Evercore ISI upgraded Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ameren has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $92.70.

Ameren Stock Performance

Shares of AEE stock opened at $99.69 on Friday. Ameren Co. has a 12-month low of $69.39 and a 12-month high of $100.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.49. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $93.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $89.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.44.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 business earned $0.60 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Ameren Co. 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 Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be issued a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.85%. This is a positive change from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is 60.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ameren news, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at $1,424,423.65. This represents a 15.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

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.