UMB Bank n.a. cut its holdings in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE – Get Rating) by 8.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,157 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 1,001 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a.'s holdings in Ameren were worth $1,008,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. CVA Family Office LLC boosted its position in shares of Ameren by 5.0% in the 1st quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 2,425 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $227,000 after buying an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Veritable L.P. boosted its position in shares of Ameren by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Veritable L.P. now owns 10,434 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $978,000 after buying an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC boosted its position in shares of Ameren by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 5,703 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $535,000 after buying an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Avidian Wealth Solutions LLC boosted its position in shares of Ameren by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Avidian Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 7,378 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $692,000 after buying an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its position in shares of Ameren by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 20,541 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,926,000 after buying an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. 77.98% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AEE has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Ameren from $101.00 to $99.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 22nd. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Ameren from $99.00 to $91.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 18th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Ameren from $92.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, September 12th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Ameren from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $94.00 to $96.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Ameren from $98.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, September 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $99.13.

Insider Transactions at Ameren

Ameren Trading Down 2.4 %

NYSE AEE opened at $80.55 on Monday. Ameren Co. has a 12 month low of $80.27 and a 12 month high of $99.20. The company has a 50-day moving average of $92.42 and a 200-day moving average of $91.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.50. The company has a market cap of $20.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.43.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.81 by ($0.01). Ameren had a return on equity of 10.19% and a net margin of 14.49%. The firm had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.80 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Ameren Co. will post 4.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 7th were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.93%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 6th. Ameren's payout ratio is currently 60.51%.

Ameren Profile

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Ameren Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a public utility holding company in the United States. It operates through four segments: Ameren Missouri, Ameren Illinois Electric Distribution, Ameren Illinois Natural Gas, and Ameren Transmission. The company engages in the rate-regulated electric generation, transmission, and distribution activities; and rate-regulated natural gas distribution and transmission businesses.

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