International Assets Investment Management LLC Has $1.18 Million Stock Holdings in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

International Assets Investment Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 98.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 13,275 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,147,723 shares during the quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Ameren were worth $1,181,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its stake in Ameren by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 4,786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 14.4% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,674 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $595,000 after purchasing an additional 839 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Ameren by 51.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,064,877 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $93,134,000 after buying an additional 362,772 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Ameren by 6.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 331,801 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,019,000 after buying an additional 19,217 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in Ameren in the 3rd quarter valued at $74,000. 79.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on AEE. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Ameren from $77.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Mizuho raised shares of Ameren from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $82.00 to $89.00 in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Argus raised Ameren to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Ameren from $93.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three 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 a consensus target price of $89.89.

Ameren Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AEE opened at $89.21 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $90.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $84.50. Ameren Co. has a 1-year low of $67.03 and a 1-year high of $95.69. The firm has a market cap of $23.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.48.

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.00%. Ameren’s payout ratio is 63.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ameren news, CFO Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.15, for a total transaction of $598,975.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 205,171 shares in the company, valued at $18,906,507.65. This trade represents a 3.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.42% of the stock is currently 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.