Hennessy Advisors Inc. Purchases 1,100 Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 42,680 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Ameren were worth $3,804,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 208.5% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 180,142 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,810,000 after buying an additional 121,751 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Ameren by 10.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 979,094 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $69,622,000 after acquiring an additional 91,182 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Ameren by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 9,803 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $697,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank grew its position in shares of Ameren by 26.4% during the 2nd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 68,667 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,883,000 after acquiring an additional 14,323 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its stake in shares of Ameren by 21.9% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 496,337 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,294,000 after purchasing an additional 89,267 shares in the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays lifted their target price on Ameren from $77.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Ameren from $93.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Ameren from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Ameren from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.89.

Ameren Trading Up 0.5 %

AEE stock opened at $94.31 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $25.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.19, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.41. Ameren Co. has a 1-year low of $67.03 and a 1-year high of $95.69. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $90.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $85.37.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.15, for a total value of $598,975.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 205,171 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,906,507.65. The trade was a 3.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.36% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.