First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Has $2.83 Million Stock Holdings in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. cut its holdings in shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 10.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 39,107 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,360 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Ameren were worth $2,829,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC bought a new position in Ameren in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Penserra Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Ameren in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Ameren by 218.2% during the 3rd quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 350 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares during the period. Dark Forest Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Ameren during the 1st quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA acquired a new position in shares of Ameren in the 3rd quarter valued at $37,000. 79.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AEE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America cut shares of Ameren from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $82.00 to $77.00 in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Barclays boosted their price target on Ameren from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Ameren from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Ameren from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 18th. Finally, KeyCorp cut shares of Ameren from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $80.11.

Insider Activity at Ameren

In other news, CEO Martin J. Lyons sold 7,270 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.70, for a total transaction of $513,989.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 246,434 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,422,883.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Ameren news, CEO Martin J. Lyons sold 7,270 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.70, for a total value of $513,989.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 246,434 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,422,883.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Mark C. Lindgren sold 1,630 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.70, for a total value of $115,241.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 47,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,385,328.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.42% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ameren Stock Performance

NYSE AEE traded up $0.65 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $73.89. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 425,726 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,859,604. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $70.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $73.98. Ameren Co. has a 12 month low of $67.03 and a 12 month high of $91.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.61 by ($0.01). Ameren had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 10.42%. The company had revenue of $1.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.63 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 20.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ameren Co. will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 13th were given a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 12th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.63%. This is a boost from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.33%.

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.