Gabelli Funds LLC Sells 12,100 Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Gabelli Funds LLC trimmed its position in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 2.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 511,750 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 12,100 shares during the quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC owned 0.19% of Ameren worth $36,391,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kentucky Retirement Systems boosted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems now owns 20,095 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,429,000 after buying an additional 126 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its position in shares of Ameren by 1.4% in the second quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 9,803 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $697,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ameren by 5.5% during the first quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 2,992 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $221,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its stake in shares of Ameren by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 7,414 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $536,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the period. Finally, Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in Ameren by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 3,051 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $221,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AEE has been the topic of a number of research reports. Mizuho raised Ameren from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $82.00 to $89.00 in a report on Monday, September 16th. Barclays upgraded shares of Ameren from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $73.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Ameren in a research note on Friday, July 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $87.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Ameren from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $85.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ameren news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.94, for a total value of $131,923.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,432 shares in the company, valued at $3,640,758.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.42% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ameren Stock Up 2.4 %

Shares of AEE opened at $85.62 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $80.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $75.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.45. Ameren Co. has a one year low of $67.03 and a one year high of $85.85. The company has a market cap of $22.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.45.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 16.28%. Ameren’s revenue was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Ameren Co. will post 4.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 11th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.61%.

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.