HM Payson & Co. Has $84,000 Stock Holdings in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

HM Payson & Co. trimmed its holdings in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 34.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 966 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 498 shares during the quarter. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in Ameren were worth $84,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Ameren by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,092,435 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,447,516,000 after acquiring an additional 802,714 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Ameren by 25.0% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 22,931,588 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,696,022,000 after purchasing an additional 4,593,638 shares during the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP increased its holdings in shares of Ameren by 204.3% in the first quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 3,827,897 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $283,111,000 after purchasing an additional 2,569,897 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in Ameren by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,877,721 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $212,836,000 after purchasing an additional 23,967 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in Ameren by 106.1% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,498,158 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $177,644,000 after buying an additional 1,286,162 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Price Performance

AEE opened at $85.88 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $85.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $78.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The stock has a market cap of $22.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.45. Ameren Co. has a 12 month low of $67.03 and a 12 month high of $89.54.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.04. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 16.28%. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Ameren Co. will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 3.12%. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 60.63%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AEE shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Ameren from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Mizuho raised shares of Ameren from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $82.00 to $89.00 in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Ameren in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $97.00 price target for the company. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Ameren from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Ameren to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ameren presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.94, for a total value of $131,923.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Company 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.