Cibc World Markets Corp Has $3.75 Million Position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Cibc World Markets Corp boosted its position in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 16.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 42,114 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,930 shares during the quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp’s holdings in Ameren were worth $3,754,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its holdings in Ameren by 14.4% during the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 10,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $907,000 after purchasing an additional 1,282 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 59.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,631,580 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $230,158,000 after buying an additional 984,879 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 51.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,064,877 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $93,134,000 after buying an additional 362,772 shares during the period. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 265.0% in the third quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC now owns 173,771 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,198,000 after buying an additional 126,157 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 334,752 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Stock Performance

NYSE AEE opened at $100.13 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $96.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $91.28. Ameren Co. has a 1 year low of $69.39 and a 1 year high of $104.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.48.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.83 by ($0.06). Ameren had a return on equity of 10.34% and a net margin of 15.51%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is a positive change from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is 64.25%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AEE. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Ameren from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Ameren from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ameren presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $93.40.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ameren news, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.79, for a total transaction of $492,275.97. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 57,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,966,471.94. This represents a 7.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $1,424,423.65. This represents a 15.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 12,959 shares of company stock valued at $1,316,712. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.