Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. Grows Stake in Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE)

Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. increased its position in Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) by 1.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 17,505 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co.’s holdings in Ameren were worth $1,734,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Ameren by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,846 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $165,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in Ameren by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 6,276 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $559,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in Ameren by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 10,107 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $901,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its holdings in Ameren by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 9,937 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $886,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the period. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Ameren by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 15,963 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,423,000 after buying an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays lifted their price objective on Ameren from $101.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Morgan Stanley set a $102.00 price target on shares of Ameren and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. KeyCorp raised shares of Ameren from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $103.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Ameren from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Ameren from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ameren presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $102.00.

Ameren Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AEE opened at $94.42 on Wednesday. Ameren Corporation has a 52 week low of $69.39 and a 52 week high of $104.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.94, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.49. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $97.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $95.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49.

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). The business had revenue of $2.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.92 billion. Ameren had a net margin of 15.31% and a return on equity of 10.40%. The firm’s revenue was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Ameren Corporation will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The business 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. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 10th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.01%. Ameren’s payout ratio is presently 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.