Avitas Wealth Management LLC Has $819,000 Stake in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Avitas Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 3.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 11,319 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 360 shares during the period. Avitas Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Ameren were worth $819,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Ameren in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Penserra Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ameren in the first quarter valued at $25,000. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Ameren by 218.2% in the third quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 350 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares during the period. Dark Forest Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Ameren during the first quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA acquired a new stake in Ameren during the third quarter worth $37,000. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Martin J. Lyons sold 7,270 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.70, for a total value of $513,989.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 246,434 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,422,883.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Ameren news, EVP Mark C. Lindgren sold 1,630 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.70, for a total transaction of $115,241.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 47,883 shares in the company, valued at $3,385,328.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Martin J. Lyons sold 7,270 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.70, for a total value of $513,989.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 246,434 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,422,883.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ameren Price Performance

Shares of Ameren stock traded down $0.31 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $72.58. The company had a trading volume of 324,364 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,840,595. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $71.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $73.91. The company has a market capitalization of $19.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.44. Ameren Co. has a 1-year low of $67.03 and a 1-year high of $91.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $1.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.03 billion. Ameren had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 10.42%. Ameren’s revenue was down 20.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.63 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ameren Co. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 12th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.69%. This is an increase from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is 61.33%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AEE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Ameren from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. KeyCorp downgraded Ameren from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 15th. Bank of America cut Ameren from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $82.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Ameren from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating in a research report on Friday, December 15th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Ameren from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ameren has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $80.11.

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.