Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC Buys 319 Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its holdings in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 163.6% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 514 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 319 shares during the quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC’s holdings in Ameren were worth $38,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ameren by 245.5% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 56,575 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,093,000 after acquiring an additional 40,202 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Ameren by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 898,638 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $65,007,000 after purchasing an additional 12,431 shares in the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC bought a new stake in Ameren during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,168,000. Putnam Investments LLC increased its stake in Ameren by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 5,112,645 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $369,849,000 after purchasing an additional 156,733 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in Ameren by 83.9% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 264,835 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $19,158,000 after purchasing an additional 120,849 shares in the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ameren Price Performance

Shares of Ameren stock traded up $0.75 on Tuesday, hitting $71.50. 2,434,448 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,758,222. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.59. Ameren Co. has a 52 week low of $67.03 and a 52 week high of $88.72. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $72.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $71.92.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.06 by ($0.08). Ameren had a net margin of 15.84% and a return on equity of 10.20%. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.19 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.00 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Ameren Co. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 12th were issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 12th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.75%. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on AEE. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Ameren from $81.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Ameren in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set a “sell” rating and a $73.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Ameren from $77.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com raised shares of Ameren from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Ameren from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $79.20.

Insider Activity

In other Ameren news, EVP Mark C. Lindgren sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.53, for a total transaction of $302,120.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,318,410.55. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Ameren news, Director Rafael Flores sold 1,500 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction on Friday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.29, for a total transaction of $106,935.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $981,520.72. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Mark C. Lindgren sold 4,000 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.53, for a total transaction of $302,120.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,318,410.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.36% 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.