AQR Capital Management LLC Sells 78,705 Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

AQR Capital Management LLC lessened its holdings in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 54.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 66,904 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 78,705 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ameren were worth $4,705,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ameren by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,092,435 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,447,516,000 after buying an additional 802,714 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Ameren by 25.0% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 22,931,588 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,696,022,000 after acquiring an additional 4,593,638 shares in the last quarter. Putnam Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Ameren by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 5,112,645 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $369,849,000 after purchasing an additional 156,733 shares during the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP boosted its stake in Ameren by 204.3% in the 1st quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 3,827,897 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $283,111,000 after purchasing an additional 2,569,897 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in Ameren by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,877,721 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $212,836,000 after purchasing an additional 23,967 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on AEE shares. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Ameren from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Ameren from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Ameren from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. UBS Group assumed coverage on Ameren in a research report on Friday, July 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $87.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Ameren in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $97.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ameren has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.64.

Ameren Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AEE opened at $87.74 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.40 billion, a PE ratio of 20.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.45. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $83.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $76.46. Ameren Co. has a twelve month low of $67.03 and a twelve month high of $88.11.

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

Ameren Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th were paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 11th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 61.61%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,640,758.08. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

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.