ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd Grows Position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 192.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,103,565 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 726,404 shares during the quarter. Ameren accounts for approximately 2.9% of ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd owned about 0.41% of Ameren worth $78,475,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Ameren by 2.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,092,435 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,447,516,000 after purchasing an additional 802,714 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Ameren by 25.0% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 22,931,588 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,696,022,000 after buying an additional 4,593,638 shares during the last quarter. Putnam Investments LLC grew its position in Ameren by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 5,112,645 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $369,849,000 after acquiring an additional 156,733 shares during the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP raised its stake in shares of Ameren by 204.3% during the first quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 3,827,897 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $283,111,000 after acquiring an additional 2,569,897 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ameren by 0.8% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,877,721 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $212,836,000 after acquiring an additional 23,967 shares in the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Transactions at Ameren

In other Ameren news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were 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 directly owns 44,432 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,640,758.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.42% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ameren Stock Down 0.1 %

NYSE:AEE opened at $83.74 on Friday. 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 firm’s 50-day moving average price is $78.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $74.42. The company has a market capitalization of $22.33 billion, a PE ratio of 19.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.45. Ameren Co. has a 1-year low of $67.03 and a 1-year high of $84.60.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced its earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. Ameren had a net margin of 16.28% and a return on equity of 10.20%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Ameren Co. will post 4.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be given a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 11th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.