CFC Planning Co LLC Purchases New Holdings in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

CFC Planning Co LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,787 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $248,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Ameren by 2.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,139,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,149,221,000 after acquiring an additional 334,752 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ameren by 1.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,672,164 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $581,661,000 after acquiring an additional 127,287 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of Ameren by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,561,994 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $398,992,000 after purchasing an additional 39,300 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Ameren by 59.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,631,580 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $230,158,000 after buying an additional 984,879 shares during the period. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its position in shares of Ameren by 26.1% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 2,318,537 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $202,779,000 after buying an additional 479,668 shares during the period. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Ameren

In other news, CFO Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.15, for a total transaction of $598,975.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 205,171 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,906,507.65. This represents a 3.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.42% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ameren Price Performance

Shares of AEE opened at $98.35 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.63. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $91.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $88.17. Ameren Co. has a 52-week low of $67.68 and a 52-week high of $98.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.25 billion, a PE ratio of 23.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.49.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.83 by ($0.06). Ameren had a net margin of 15.52% and a return on equity of 10.09%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Ameren Co. will post 4.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be paid a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. This is a positive change from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.89%. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is presently 63.06%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on AEE. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Ameren from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $89.00 to $104.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays cut Ameren from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $88.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Ameren from $93.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ameren has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $92.00.

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.