Teacher Retirement System of Texas Acquires New Position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 2,497 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $223,000.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ameren in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ameren during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ameren by 134.5% during the 4th quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 544 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 312 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. boosted its position in shares of Ameren by 86.2% during the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 540 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ameren by 49.4% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the period. 79.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameren

In other Ameren news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.37, for a total value of $557,535.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,344 shares in the company, valued at $4,393,781.28. This trade represents a 11.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.79, for a total value of $492,275.97. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 57,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,966,471.94. This trade represents a 7.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,959 shares of company stock valued at $1,316,712 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Ameren from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Evercore ISI upgraded Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. UBS Group lifted their target price on Ameren from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Ameren from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $96.70.

Ameren Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of AEE opened at $100.66 on Wednesday. Ameren Co. has a 1 year low of $69.39 and a 1 year high of $104.10. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $97.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $92.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.17 billion, a PE ratio of 22.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.66.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.83 by ($0.06). Ameren had a net margin of 15.51% and a return on equity of 10.34%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is an increase from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.82%. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is 64.25%.

About Ameren

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.