CoreFirst Bank & Trust Makes New $89,000 Investment in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

CoreFirst Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 1,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $89,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its position in Ameren by 14.4% during the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 10,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $907,000 after acquiring an additional 1,282 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in Ameren by 59.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,631,580 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $230,158,000 after purchasing an additional 984,879 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Ameren by 51.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,064,877 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $93,134,000 after purchasing an additional 362,772 shares during the last quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Ameren by 265.0% during the third quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC now owns 173,771 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,198,000 after buying an additional 126,157 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Ameren by 2.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,139,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,149,221,000 after buying an additional 334,752 shares during the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ameren Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AEE opened at $97.17 on Wednesday. Ameren Co. has a 1 year low of $69.39 and a 1 year high of $104.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.48. The company’s 50-day moving average is $97.28 and its 200 day moving average is $91.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.44.

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

Ameren Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.92%. This is a positive change from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Ameren’s payout ratio is presently 64.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AEE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Ameren from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Ameren from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Ameren from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. One investment 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.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $96.70.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.37, for a total value of $557,535.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,344 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,393,781.28. The trade was a 11.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.27, for a total value of $266,901.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 14,495 shares in the company, valued at $1,424,423.65. The trade was a 15.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,959 shares of company stock valued at $1,316,712 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Company 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.