Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Invests $787,000 in Ameren Corporation $AEE

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. acquired a new stake in Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 6,965 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $787,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Ameren by 22.9% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 8,077 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $811,000 after buying an additional 1,503 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in Ameren by 19.8% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 6,255 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $628,000 after acquiring an additional 1,034 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP grew its holdings in shares of Ameren by 42.2% during the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 22,802 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,289,000 after purchasing an additional 6,772 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Ameren by 48.1% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,555 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $149,000 after acquiring an additional 505 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in Ameren by 6.3% in the 2nd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 4,688 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $450,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Ameren

In other Ameren news, insider Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.96, for a total transaction of $708,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 199,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,758,113.44. The trade was a 3.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Theresa A. Shaw sold 325 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.93, for a total transaction of $35,402.25. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 32,340 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,522,796.20. The trade was a 0.99% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AEE opened at $106.94 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $110.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $110.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.83, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.47. Ameren Corporation has a 52-week low of $96.57 and a 52-week high of $118.32.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.09 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.27 billion. Ameren had a net margin of 17.86% and a return on equity of 10.95%. The company’s revenue was down 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.01 EPS. Ameren has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.250-5.450 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ameren Corporation will post 5.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.82%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Ameren from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ameren in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Ameren from $124.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 17th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Ameren from $121.00 to $119.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Ameren from $126.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ameren currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $121.42.

Ameren Profile

Ameren Corporation (NYSE: AEE) is an integrated energy company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, that provides electric and natural gas delivery and related services in portions of Missouri and Illinois. The company operates regulated utility businesses that serve a broad mix of residential, commercial and industrial customers, and it participates in wholesale energy markets and transmission operations that support reliable service across its service territories.

Ameren’s core activities include generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, distribution of natural gas, and the provision of customer energy solutions such as demand-side management and energy efficiency programs.