Mutual of America Capital Management LLC Reduces Stake in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Mutual of America Capital Management LLC reduced its holdings in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 71,659 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 588 shares during the period. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ameren were worth $5,096,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 898,638 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $65,007,000 after buying an additional 12,431 shares during the period. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ameren by 493.0% during the 1st quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 21,728 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,607,000 after purchasing an additional 18,064 shares during the period. Putnam Investments LLC increased 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 purchasing an additional 156,733 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ameren by 703.6% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 129,346 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,566,000 after purchasing an additional 113,250 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of 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 during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Stock Up 2.4 %

Shares of NYSE AEE opened at $85.62 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The company has a 50-day moving average of $80.97 and a 200 day moving average of $75.46. Ameren Co. has a 12-month low of $67.03 and a 12-month high of $85.85. The stock 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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.04. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 16.28%. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ameren Co. will post 4.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be issued 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 61.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Ameren from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Bank of America lifted their price target on Ameren from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Mizuho upgraded Ameren from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $82.00 to $89.00 in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Barclays upgraded Ameren from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $73.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Ameren in a research report on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating and a $97.00 target price on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $85.00.

Insider Activity

In other Ameren news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.94, for a total value of $131,923.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,432 shares in the company, valued at $3,640,758.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate 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.