TAP Consulting LLC Sells 441 Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

TAP Consulting LLC reduced its stake in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 6.2% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 6,703 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 441 shares during the quarter. TAP Consulting LLC’s holdings in Ameren were worth $477,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AEE. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in Ameren by 115.3% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 366 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ameren in the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. boosted its stake in Ameren by 117.6% in the 1st quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 370 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Ameren during the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Ameren during the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ameren news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.94, for a total transaction of $131,923.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,640,758.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.42% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on AEE shares. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Ameren from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Barclays raised Ameren from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $73.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Ameren from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Ameren from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, UBS Group started coverage on Ameren in a report on Friday, July 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $87.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $81.00.

Ameren Stock Performance

Shares of Ameren stock traded down $0.58 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $83.16. 1,076,049 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,629,810. Ameren Co. has a one year low of $67.03 and a one year high of $84.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $78.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $74.54.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.04. Ameren had a net margin of 16.28% and a return on equity of 10.20%. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ameren Co. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 11th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.22%. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 61.61%.

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.