First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Has $4.09 Million Stock Position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. cut its holdings in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 46,812 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,772 shares during the quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Ameren were worth $4,094,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AEE. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Ameren by 77.5% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,410 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $298,000 after buying an additional 1,489 shares in the last quarter. IFG Advisors LLC bought a new position in Ameren during the 3rd quarter worth $220,000. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its holdings in Ameren by 9.1% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 30,671 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,682,000 after acquiring an additional 2,561 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 6,282 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $549,000 after acquiring an additional 860 shares during the period. Finally, Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ameren by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 23,367 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,044,000 after purchasing an additional 591 shares in the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ameren Price Performance

Ameren stock opened at $88.84 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $23.69 billion, a PE ratio of 20.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $84.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $77.49. Ameren Co. has a 12 month low of $67.03 and a 12 month high of $88.90.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. Ameren had a net margin of 16.28% and a return on equity of 10.20%. The company’s revenue was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. Analysts expect that Ameren Co. will post 4.62 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.02%. Ameren’s payout ratio is 61.61%.

Insider Transactions at Ameren

In other news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 $3,640,758.08. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on AEE shares. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Ameren in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $97.00 price target for the company. Mizuho raised shares of Ameren from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $82.00 to $89.00 in a report on Monday, September 16th. Argus raised shares of Ameren to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. UBS Group began coverage on Ameren in a research note on Friday, July 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $87.00 target price for the company. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Ameren from $77.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.80.

About Ameren

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.