Morgan Stanley increased its position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 40.2% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,599,123 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 458,665 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley’s holdings in Ameren were worth $127,993,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Deutsche Bank AG increased its position in Ameren by 837.3% during the second quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 4,615,364 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $369,415,000 after purchasing an additional 4,122,978 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Ameren by 86.6% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,368,535 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $189,577,000 after purchasing an additional 1,098,968 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Ameren by 2.4% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,806,084 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,305,640,000 after purchasing an additional 687,861 shares during the last quarter. Maple Brown Abbott Ltd increased its position in Ameren by 21.1% during the second quarter. Maple Brown Abbott Ltd now owns 2,696,290 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $215,811,000 after purchasing an additional 470,050 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi acquired a new position in Ameren during the second quarter worth approximately $34,723,000. 76.57% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Several equities analysts recently commented on AEE shares. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Ameren from $88.00 to $83.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 30th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Ameren from $87.00 to $86.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $88.50.
Shares of AEE stock opened at $86.41 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $22.22 billion, a PE ratio of 22.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.32. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $84.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $84.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27. Ameren Co. has a twelve month low of $69.79 and a twelve month high of $90.77.
Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.79 billion. Ameren had a net margin of 15.86% and a return on equity of 10.41%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.47 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Ameren Co. will post 3.85 EPS for the current year.
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 8th will be issued a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 7th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.55%. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is presently 57.59%.
In related news, CEO Warner L. Baxter sold 57,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.31, for a total value of $4,976,670.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.
Ameren Company Profile
Ameren Corp. is a public utility holding company, which engages in the provision of electric and natural gas services. It operates through the following segments: Ameren Missouri, Ameren Illinois Electric Distribution, Ameren Illinois Natural Gas, Ameren Transmission, and Other. The Ameren Transmission segment consists of the aggregated electric transmission businesses of Ameren Illinois and Ameren Transmission Company of Illinois (ATXI).
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