Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. Takes $6.81 Million Position in Ameren Corporation $AEE

Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. purchased a new stake in shares of Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 68,144 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,805,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ameren during the 4th quarter valued at $80,000. Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ameren during the 4th quarter valued at $5,315,000. Kentucky Trust Co lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 14,759 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,474,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Daytona Street Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ameren during the 4th quarter valued at $141,000. Finally, Apella Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ameren during the 4th quarter valued at $329,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on AEE shares. Wall Street Zen cut Ameren from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley set a $116.00 price objective on Ameren in a research note on Friday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Ameren from $112.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ameren in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Ameren from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ameren has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $115.92.

Ameren Stock Performance

NYSE:AEE opened at $110.85 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.66. Ameren Corporation has a 52-week low of $93.27 and a 52-week high of $115.53. The firm has a market cap of $30.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.72, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.52. The business’s fifty day moving average is $110.23 and its 200 day moving average is $105.20.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.01. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.69% and a net margin of 16.55%.The company had revenue of $1.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.69 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.77 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Ameren Corporation will post 4.93 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th were paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. This is an increase from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.07%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ameren news, insider Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.60, for a total value of $673,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 193,076 shares in the company, valued at $20,002,673.60. This represents a 3.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ameren Company Profile

Ameren Corporation (NYSE: AEE) is an integrated energy company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, that provides electric and natural gas delivery and related services in portions of Missouri and Illinois. The company operates regulated utility businesses that serve a broad mix of residential, commercial and industrial customers, and it participates in wholesale energy markets and transmission operations that support reliable service across its service territories.

Ameren’s core activities include generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, distribution of natural gas, and the provision of customer energy solutions such as demand-side management and energy efficiency programs.