Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) Shares Bought by Janus Henderson Group PLC

Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,601,449 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 39,455 shares during the quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC owned about 1.72% of Ameren worth $410,174,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ameren in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ameren during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Ameren during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ameren during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Optiver Holding B.V. increased its stake in shares of Ameren by 78.7% during the fourth quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 470 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 207 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Ameren from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ameren in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Ameren from $101.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Ameren in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $99.89.

Ameren Trading Down 0.2%

Ameren stock opened at $97.48 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $98.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $94.62. Ameren Co. has a 52 week low of $69.39 and a 52 week high of $104.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.51.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.01). Ameren had a return on equity of 10.34% and a net margin of 15.51%. The firm had revenue of $2.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.91%. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ameren news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.37, for a total transaction of $557,535.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 43,344 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,393,781.28. The trade was a 11.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.27, for a total transaction of $266,901.32. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,495 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,424,423.65. This represents a 15.78% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 12,959 shares of company stock worth $1,316,712. 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.