Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Acquires 1,021 Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 13.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,021 shares during the quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in Ameren were worth $749,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Ameren by 115.3% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 366 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in Ameren in the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Ameren in the 1st quarter worth $31,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ameren by 108.1% during the 1st quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 435 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ameren by 227.3% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 455 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 316 shares in the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Ameren from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Mizuho raised shares of Ameren from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $82.00 to $89.00 in a report on Monday, September 16th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $77.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Ameren from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Ameren to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.80.

Ameren Price Performance

AEE stock opened at $91.22 on Monday. Ameren Co. has a one year low of $67.03 and a one year high of $92.77. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $87.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $79.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.63. The company has a market capitalization of $24.35 billion, a PE ratio of 21.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.45.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.06%.

Insider Transactions at Ameren

In related news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.94, for a total transaction of $131,923.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,640,758.08. This represents a 3.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available 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.