Profund Advisors LLC Purchases 4,913 Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Profund Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 50.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,725 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,913 shares during the period. Profund Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ameren were worth $1,047,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AEE. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in Ameren by 115.3% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 366 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ameren during the second quarter worth $26,000. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. increased its holdings in Ameren by 117.6% in the first quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 370 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Ameren in the first quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in Ameren during the first quarter worth about $31,000. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AEE. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Ameren from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Bank of America raised their price objective on Ameren from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. UBS Group began coverage on Ameren in a report on Friday, July 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $87.00 price target for the company. Barclays raised Ameren from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $73.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Ameren from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ameren currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $85.00.

Ameren Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of AEE stock opened at $85.65 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $81.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $75.56. Ameren Co. has a 1 year low of $67.03 and a 1 year high of $86.15. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $22.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.69, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.45.

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

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be issued 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 of this dividend is Wednesday, September 11th. Ameren’s payout ratio is presently 61.61%.

Insider Activity at Ameren

In other Ameren news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.42% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.