Harbour Investments Inc. Has $135,000 Stock Position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Harbour Investments Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 600.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,520 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,303 shares during the quarter. Harbour Investments Inc.’s holdings in Ameren were worth $135,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AEE. FMR LLC raised its stake in 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. Verition Fund Management LLC raised its stake in Ameren by 484.8% during the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 637,241 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $55,733,000 after buying an additional 528,270 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its stake in 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. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in Ameren by 42.1% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,469,037 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $130,950,000 after buying an additional 434,889 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Ameren by 51.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,064,877 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $93,134,000 after buying an additional 362,772 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AEE opened at $98.89 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.37, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.48. The business has a 50-day moving average of $96.93 and a 200-day moving average of $91.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.44. Ameren Co. has a fifty-two week low of $69.39 and a fifty-two week high of $104.10.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 15.51% and a return on equity of 10.34%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company 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. This is an increase from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AEE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Evercore ISI upgraded Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $89.00 to $104.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays increased their target price on Ameren from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Ameren from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Ameren from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $96.70.

Insider Activity at Ameren

In related news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.37, for a total value of $557,535.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,344 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,393,781.28. This trade represents a 11.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.27, for a total transaction of $266,901.32. Following the sale, the director now owns 14,495 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,424,423.65. This trade represents a 15.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 12,959 shares of company stock worth $1,316,712. Insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

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.