Quantinno Capital Management LP Has $4.45 Million Stake in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its holdings in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 33.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 49,954 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,420 shares during the quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP’s holdings in Ameren were worth $4,453,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AEE. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Ameren in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ameren during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in Ameren in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new position in Ameren in the 4th quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Optiver Holding B.V. increased its holdings in Ameren by 78.7% during the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 470 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.79, for a total transaction of $492,275.97. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 57,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,966,471.94. The trade was a 7.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.27, for a total value of $266,901.32. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 14,495 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,424,423.65. This represents a 15.78% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 12,959 shares of company stock valued at $1,316,712 over the last 90 days. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Ameren from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Evercore ISI upgraded Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Ameren from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Ameren in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $101.80.

Ameren Trading Up 1.2%

NYSE AEE opened at $97.99 on Monday. Ameren Co. has a 12 month low of $69.39 and a 12 month high of $104.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $98.19 and a 200-day moving average of $94.92. The company has a market cap of $26.48 billion, a PE ratio of 22.17, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.51.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 15.51% and a return on equity of 10.34%. The firm had revenue of $2.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.92 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 10th. Ameren’s payout ratio is currently 62.97%.

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.