Ameren Corporation $AEE Stake Lessened by Machina Capital S.A.S.

Machina Capital S.A.S. lessened its stake in shares of Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) by 39.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 20,515 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 13,402 shares during the quarter. Machina Capital S.A.S.’s holdings in Ameren were worth $2,039,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AEE. Lido Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Ameren by 7.0% during the third quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 14,289 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,420,000 after buying an additional 937 shares in the last quarter. United Capital Management of KS Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ameren by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. United Capital Management of KS Inc. now owns 15,096 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,500,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Ameren by 28.2% in the 3rd quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 8,363 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $831,000 after purchasing an additional 1,840 shares during the last quarter. M Holdings Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ameren in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $272,000. Finally, Ethic Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ameren by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 48,720 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,842,000 after purchasing an additional 4,337 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.72, for a total value of $719,680.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 193,790 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,456,428.80. This represents a 3.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Rafael Flores sold 248 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.53, for a total transaction of $26,171.44. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 13,888 shares in the company, valued at $1,465,600.64. The trade was a 1.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AEE has been the subject of several recent research reports. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Ameren from $116.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 13th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Ameren from $136.00 to $122.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Ameren from $120.00 to $116.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 14th. Barclays decreased their target price on Ameren from $117.00 to $109.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 19th. Finally, BTIG Research cut their target price on Ameren from $126.00 to $121.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 20th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $117.95.

Ameren Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE AEE opened at $113.55 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $31.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.19, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.42. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $105.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $108.72. Ameren Corporation has a 52 week low of $96.57 and a 52 week high of $118.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.74.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.82 billion. Ameren had a return on equity of 11.27% and a net margin of 17.90%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.17 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Ameren Corporation will post 5.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 8th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.17%.

About Ameren

Ameren Corporation is a regulated utility holding company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Through its subsidiaries, it provides electric and natural gas service to customers across Missouri and Illinois. Ameren Missouri generates, transmits and distributes electricity and delivers natural gas in parts of Missouri. Ameren Illinois operates electric transmission and distribution systems and provides natural gas delivery service in parts of Illinois. The company also develops and operates electric transmission infrastructure.