Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors Buys 918 Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors increased its stake in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 13,744 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 918 shares during the quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors’ holdings in Ameren were worth $1,202,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Ameren by 493.0% during the 1st quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 21,728 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,607,000 after acquiring an additional 18,064 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Ameren by 703.6% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 129,346 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,566,000 after buying an additional 113,250 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Ameren by 392.0% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 19,434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,382,000 after buying an additional 15,484 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in Ameren by 137.2% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 100,154 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,407,000 after buying an additional 57,923 shares during the period. Finally, Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Ameren in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,632,000. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AEE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group initiated coverage on Ameren in a report on Friday, July 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $87.00 price objective for the company. Argus upgraded Ameren to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Ameren from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Bank of America raised their target price on Ameren from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Ameren in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $97.00 target price for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ameren presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ameren news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.94, for a total value 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 approximately $3,640,758.08. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Stock Up 0.7 %

AEE stock traded up $0.62 on Monday, reaching $88.42. 15,862 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,580,015. Ameren Co. has a one year low of $67.03 and a one year high of $89.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The company has a market cap of $23.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.45. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $85.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $78.06.

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

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. Ameren’s payout ratio is 60.63%.

Ameren 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.