Magnetar Financial LLC Purchases New Position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 37,008 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,632,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 25.0% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 22,931,588 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,696,022,000 after purchasing an additional 4,593,638 shares during the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP lifted its position in Ameren by 204.3% during the 1st quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 3,827,897 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $283,111,000 after acquiring an additional 2,569,897 shares during the period. Cohen & Steers Inc. purchased a new stake in Ameren in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $60,445,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Ameren by 2.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,092,435 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,447,516,000 after purchasing an additional 802,714 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Ameren by 192.6% in the second quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd now owns 1,103,565 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $78,475,000 after acquiring an additional 726,404 shares during the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America boosted their target price on Ameren from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. BMO Capital Markets lifted 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. Mizuho raised shares of Ameren from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $82.00 to $89.00 in a report on Monday, September 16th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Ameren from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Ameren in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $97.00 price target on the stock. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $85.00.

Insider Transactions at Ameren

In other Ameren news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.94, for a total value of $131,923.40. Following the transaction, 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 SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.42% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ameren Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of AEE stock opened at $85.65 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $81.23 and a 200-day moving average of $75.56. The stock has a market cap of $22.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.45. Ameren Co. has a 52-week low of $67.03 and a 52-week high of $86.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.67.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Ameren Co. will post 4.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

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

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.