Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC Lowers Stock Position in Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE)

Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) by 8.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,622 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 413 shares during the period. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Ameren were worth $464,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its stake in shares of Ameren by 1,732.4% during 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 during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ameren by 96.5% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,170,709 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $460,917,000 after purchasing an additional 2,539,129 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ameren by 16.7% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 17,038,754 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,518,835,000 after purchasing an additional 2,439,811 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position in shares of Ameren by 116.0% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,357,876 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $210,181,000 after acquiring an additional 1,266,051 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ameren by 76.7% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,134,288 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $190,250,000 after acquiring an additional 926,126 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Stock Up 0.4%

NYSE:AEE opened at $96.55 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $96.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $96.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.62. Ameren Corporation has a one year low of $72.33 and a one year high of $104.10. The company has a market cap of $26.10 billion, a PE ratio of 21.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.48.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $2.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.92 billion. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.40% and a net margin of 15.31%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ameren Corporation will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 10th were paid a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 10th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.94%. Ameren’s payout ratio is 62.97%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AEE. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Ameren from $104.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Ameren from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Ameren from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $91.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Ameren in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, UBS Group set a $114.00 target price on shares of Ameren and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $101.27.

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.