SVB Wealth LLC Invests $461,000 in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 5,173 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $461,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Versor Investments LP acquired a new stake in shares of Ameren during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,417,000. FMR LLC boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 984,879 shares in the last quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC acquired a new stake in Ameren in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,682,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Ameren by 51.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,064,877 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $93,134,000 after buying an additional 362,772 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ameren by 265.0% during the 3rd quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC now owns 173,771 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,198,000 after buying an additional 126,157 shares during the period. 79.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Ameren from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price 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. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Ameren from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. One equities research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $93.40.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ameren news, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.27, for a total transaction of $266,901.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 14,495 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,424,423.65. This trade represents a 15.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 57,486 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,966,471.94. This trade represents a 7.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,959 shares of company stock valued at $1,316,712 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Trading Down 3.5 %

AEE opened at $100.01 on Wednesday. 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 company’s 50 day simple moving average is $94.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $90.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.49. Ameren Co. has a 1-year low of $69.39 and a 1-year high of $104.10.

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 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 last year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. Analysts expect that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be 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 2.84%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.25%.

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.