Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its position in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 328,450 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,351 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.12% of Ameren worth $29,278,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Metis Global Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Ameren by 1.5% during the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 8,513 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $745,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC increased its position in Ameren by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 4,786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the period. NorthRock Partners LLC increased its position in Ameren by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 3,107 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $272,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its position in Ameren by 16.3% in the 4th quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 980 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $87,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares during the period. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC increased its position in Ameren by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 9,110 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $797,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on AEE shares. Evercore ISI upgraded Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Ameren from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays cut Ameren from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $88.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $92.70.

Ameren Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AEE opened at $98.52 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $92.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $88.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.44. Ameren Co. has a 12 month low of $69.39 and a 12 month high of $100.61.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 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 period in the previous year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is a positive change from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.88%. Ameren’s payout ratio is 60.63%.

Insider Transactions at Ameren

In other Ameren news, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,424,423.65. This represents a 15.78 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

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.