Bleakley Financial Group LLC Has $549,000 Stake in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 15.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,282 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 860 shares during the quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Ameren were worth $549,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ameren by 2.5% during the 1st 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 period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Ameren by 25.0% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 22,931,588 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,696,022,000 after purchasing an additional 4,593,638 shares in the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP increased its position in 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 during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ameren by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,877,721 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $212,836,000 after purchasing an additional 23,967 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 106.1% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,498,158 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $177,644,000 after buying an additional 1,286,162 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 equities analysts recently commented on AEE shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Ameren from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Ameren in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $97.00 target price on the stock. Barclays boosted their price target on Ameren from $77.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Bank of America increased 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ameren news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,432 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,640,758.08. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.42% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ameren Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AEE opened at $88.23 on Tuesday. Ameren Co. has a 12 month low of $67.03 and a 12 month high of $89.08. The company has a market cap of $23.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.45. The business’s 50 day moving average is $84.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $77.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40.

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

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.