Toronto Dominion Bank Sells 22,239 Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Toronto Dominion Bank trimmed its stake in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 18.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 95,433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 22,239 shares during the quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank’s holdings in Ameren were worth $8,507,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Ameren by 0.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 489,935 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $42,849,000 after purchasing an additional 1,856 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ameren by 24.7% in the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 4,594 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $410,000 after buying an additional 910 shares during the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ameren by 14.3% in the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,912 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $349,000 after buying an additional 490 shares during the last quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Ameren during the 4th quarter worth about $201,000. Finally, Tudor Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Ameren by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Tudor Financial Inc. now owns 5,496 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $490,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AEE has been the subject of several research reports. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Ameren in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Ameren from $101.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Ameren from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded Ameren from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $103.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ameren currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $101.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameren

In other news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of Ameren 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,344 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,393,781.28. This trade represents a 11.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.79, for a total transaction of $492,275.97. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 57,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,966,471.94. This trade represents a 7.62% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE AEE opened at $98.51 on Wednesday. Ameren Co. has a fifty-two week low of $69.39 and a fifty-two week high of $104.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.44. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $98.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $95.04.

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

Ameren Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 10th will be issued a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 10th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.88%. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.97%.

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.