Sei Investments Co. Sells 6,429 Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Sei Investments Co. lowered its position in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 271,828 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 6,429 shares during the quarter. Sei Investments Co.’s holdings in Ameren were worth $24,232,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in AEE. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Ameren by 59.8% during 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 last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ameren by 484.8% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 637,241 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $55,733,000 after buying an additional 528,270 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its holdings in Ameren by 26.1% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 2,318,537 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $202,779,000 after buying an additional 479,668 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in Ameren by 42.1% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,469,037 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $130,950,000 after acquiring an additional 434,889 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Ameren by 51.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,064,877 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $93,134,000 after acquiring an additional 362,772 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Ameren news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $4,393,781.28. The trade was a 11.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.79, for a total transaction of $492,275.97. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 57,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,966,471.94. This represents a 7.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,959 shares of company stock worth $1,316,712 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AEE has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Ameren from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target 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 price objective 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. Evercore ISI raised shares of Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Ameren from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ameren presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $96.70.

Ameren Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:AEE opened at $98.86 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $26.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.37, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. Ameren Co. has a 12 month low of $69.39 and a 12 month high of $104.10. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $97.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $91.82.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (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 period last year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 2.87%. This is an increase from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is 64.25%.

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.