Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) Shares Acquired by Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. boosted its position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 1.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,803 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Ameren were worth $697,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Ameren by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 898,638 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $65,007,000 after purchasing an additional 12,431 shares during the period. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ameren by 493.0% in the 1st quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 21,728 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,607,000 after acquiring an additional 18,064 shares during the period. Putnam Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 5,112,645 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $369,849,000 after acquiring an additional 156,733 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in Ameren by 703.6% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 129,346 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,566,000 after purchasing an additional 113,250 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Ameren by 392.0% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 19,434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,382,000 after purchasing an additional 15,484 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.94, for a total transaction of $131,923.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,640,758.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.42% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AEE shares. Mizuho raised Ameren from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $82.00 to $89.00 in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Barclays raised shares of Ameren from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $73.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Ameren from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Ameren from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ameren has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $85.00.

Ameren Trading Up 2.4 %

Shares of NYSE AEE opened at $85.62 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.68, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.45. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $80.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $75.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. Ameren Co. has a 52-week low of $67.03 and a 52-week high of $85.85.

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

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.13%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 11th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is presently 61.61%.

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.