SG Americas Securities LLC Sells 99,468 Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

SG Americas Securities LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 85.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,784 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 99,468 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Ameren were worth $1,468,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Ameren by 25.0% during the first 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 acquiring an additional 4,593,638 shares in the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP boosted its position in shares of Ameren by 204.3% in the 1st quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 3,827,897 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $283,111,000 after purchasing an additional 2,569,897 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ameren by 106.1% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,498,158 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $177,644,000 after buying an additional 1,286,162 shares during the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. bought a new position in Ameren during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $60,445,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Ameren by 2.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,092,435 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,447,516,000 after buying an additional 802,714 shares during the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on AEE. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Ameren from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Argus raised shares of Ameren to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Ameren in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $97.00 target price for the company. 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 report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded shares of Ameren from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $82.00 to $89.00 in a report on Monday, September 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.64.

Insider Transactions at Ameren

In other Ameren news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,640,758.08. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ameren Stock Performance

Shares of AEE opened at $86.74 on Wednesday. Ameren Co. has a one year low of $67.03 and a one year high of $88.11. The business has a fifty day moving average of $83.40 and a 200 day moving average of $76.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.94, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.45.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.04. Ameren had a net margin of 16.28% and a return on equity of 10.20%. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ameren Co. will post 4.62 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 11th. Ameren’s payout ratio is 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.