Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $33.07 Million Stake in Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE)

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) by 0.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 329,385 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 935 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Ameren were worth $33,070,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AEE. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its stake in Ameren by 1,732.4% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 3,068,505 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $273,527,000 after buying an additional 2,901,047 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Ameren by 96.5% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,170,709 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $460,917,000 after buying an additional 2,539,129 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Ameren by 16.7% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 17,038,754 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,518,835,000 after buying an additional 2,439,811 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in Ameren by 116.0% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,357,876 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $210,181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,266,051 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in Ameren by 76.7% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,134,288 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $190,250,000 after purchasing an additional 926,126 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Barclays boosted their price objective on Ameren from $101.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. KeyCorp raised Ameren from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $103.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Ameren in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Ameren from $102.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Ameren from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $101.64.

Ameren Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of AEE opened at $95.84 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49. Ameren Corporation has a 12-month low of $70.19 and a 12-month high of $104.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.90 billion, a PE ratio of 21.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.48. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $96.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $96.19.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.01). Ameren had a net margin of 15.31% and a return on equity of 10.40%. The firm had revenue of $2.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.92 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Ameren Corporation will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 10th were issued a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 10th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.96%. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.97%.

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.