First National Trust Co Purchases Shares of 2,284 Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

First National Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 2,284 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 14.4% during the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 10,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $907,000 after buying an additional 1,282 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 984,879 shares in the last quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC bought a new position in shares of Ameren during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,682,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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 worth $93,134,000 after buying an additional 362,772 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 265.0% during the 3rd quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC now owns 173,771 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,198,000 after buying an additional 126,157 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.79, for a total transaction of $492,275.97. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 57,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,966,471.94. This trade represents a 7.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 12,959 shares of company stock worth $1,316,712 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on AEE shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Ameren from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. 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 report on Tuesday, March 4th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $89.00 to $104.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $93.40.

Ameren Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of AEE stock opened at $99.26 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $95.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $90.90. 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $69.39 and a 1 year high of $104.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.46, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.48.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 prior year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is a positive change from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. Ameren’s payout ratio is 64.25%.

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.