Dean Capital Management Buys 2,647 Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Dean Capital Management lifted its stake in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 19.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 16,322 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,647 shares during the quarter. Dean Capital Management’s holdings in Ameren were worth $1,181,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AEE. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Ameren by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,824,791 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $211,379,000 after buying an additional 101,023 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Ameren by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,430,398 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $181,867,000 after acquiring an additional 29,921 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its position in shares of Ameren by 30.4% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 2,286,264 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $171,081,000 after acquiring an additional 532,800 shares during the period. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. boosted its stake in Ameren by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 1,764,675 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $127,657,000 after acquiring an additional 11,705 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maple Brown Abbott Ltd boosted its stake in Ameren by 16.6% during the 4th quarter. Maple Brown Abbott Ltd now owns 1,574,860 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $113,925,000 after acquiring an additional 223,790 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Ameren from $77.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Barclays raised Ameren from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $73.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. StockNews.com raised Ameren from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Ameren from $76.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Ameren in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set a “sell” rating and a $73.00 target price on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $79.70.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameren

In other news, EVP Mark C. Lindgren sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.53, for a total value of $302,120.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,318,410.55. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Mark C. Lindgren sold 4,000 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.53, for a total transaction of $302,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,935 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,318,410.55. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Rafael Flores sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.29, for a total value of $106,935.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 13,768 shares in the company, valued at approximately $981,520.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of Ameren stock traded down $0.54 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $70.96. 65,113 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,752,007. The company has a current ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31. The company has a 50 day moving average of $73.26 and a two-hundred day moving average of $72.71. The stock has a market cap of $18.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.45. Ameren Co. has a fifty-two week low of $67.03 and a fifty-two week high of $88.72.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.06 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.19 billion. Ameren had a net margin of 15.84% and a return on equity of 10.20%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.00 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ameren Co. will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 12th will be paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.78%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 12th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is currently 61.61%.

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.