Amalgamated Bank Acquires 14,323 Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Amalgamated Bank boosted its holdings in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 26.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 68,667 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,323 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank’s holdings in Ameren were worth $4,883,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 12,431 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 168 shares during the period. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC now owns 3,596 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $260,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its position in shares of Ameren by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 183,485 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $13,273,000 after purchasing an additional 16,269 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ameren by 6.1% during the fourth 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 period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ameren

In related news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,640,758.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on AEE shares. Bank of America upped their price objective on Ameren from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Ameren in a research report on Friday, July 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $87.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Ameren in a report on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating and a $97.00 target price on the stock. Barclays upgraded Ameren from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $73.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Ameren from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ameren has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $85.00.

Ameren Trading Up 2.4 %

Shares of AEE stock opened at $85.62 on Friday. Ameren Co. has a fifty-two week low of $67.03 and a fifty-two week high of $85.85. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $80.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $75.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.67. The company has a market cap of $22.83 billion, a PE ratio of 19.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.45.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Ameren Co. will post 4.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

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