WR Wealth Planners LLC Decreases Holdings in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

WR Wealth Planners LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 58.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 988 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,391 shares during the quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC’s holdings in Ameren were worth $88,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Ameren during the fourth quarter valued at $461,000. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ameren by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 77,991 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,952,000 after buying an additional 1,954 shares in the last quarter. Prosperitas Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ameren by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Prosperitas Financial LLC now owns 32,784 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,922,000 after buying an additional 1,557 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ameren by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 48,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,332,000 after buying an additional 2,909 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ameren in the fourth quarter worth about $4,180,000. 79.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price target 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. Evercore ISI raised shares of Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays downgraded shares of Ameren from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $88.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ameren currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $92.70.

Ameren Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE:AEE opened at $101.74 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $27.46 billion, a PE ratio of 23.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. Ameren Co. has a twelve month low of $69.39 and a twelve month high of $101.75. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $93.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $89.72.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.83 by ($0.06). Ameren had a net margin of 15.51% and a return on equity of 10.34%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be given a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.79%. This is an increase from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ameren news, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.27, for a total transaction of $266,901.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 14,495 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,424,423.65. This represents a 15.78 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.42% of the stock is owned by 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.