Hedge Funds Aren’t Crazy About Ameren Corp (AEE) Anymore

Is Ameren Corp (NYSE:AEE) undervalued? The smart money is getting less optimistic. The number of long hedge fund bets decreased by 2 lately.

To most market participants, hedge funds are perceived as worthless, old investment tools of the past. While there are more than 8000 funds with their doors open today, we hone in on the elite of this club, about 450 funds. Most estimates calculate that this group controls the lion’s share of the smart money’s total asset base, and by watching their top equity investments, we have unearthed a number of investment strategies that have historically beaten the broader indices. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outstripped the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points annually for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve started sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have beaten the S&P 500 index by 23.3 percentage points in 8 months (explore the details and some picks here).

Just as integral, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the world of equities. Obviously, there are plenty of reasons for an executive to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would buy. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this method if investors understand what to do (learn more here).

With these “truths” under our belt, let’s take a look at the key action surrounding Ameren Corp (NYSE:AEE).

What does the smart money think about Ameren Corp (NYSE:AEE)?

In preparation for this quarter, a total of 21 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -9% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings meaningfully.

According to our comprehensive database, Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, holds the most valuable position in Ameren Corp (NYSE:AEE). Renaissance Technologies has a $74.8 million position in the stock, comprising 0.2% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Israel Englander of Millennium Management, with a $69.5 million position; 0.3% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other hedgies that hold long positions include D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw, David Harding’s Winton Capital Management and Jacob Gottlieb’s Visium Asset Management.

Because Ameren Corp (NYSE:AEE) has experienced bearish sentiment from hedge fund managers, it’s safe to say that there was a specific group of hedgies who sold off their full holdings heading into Q2. It’s worth mentioning that Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management dropped the biggest stake of all the hedgies we key on, comprising an estimated $10 million in stock.. John Overdeck and David Siegel’s fund, Two Sigma Advisors, also sold off its stock, about $8.7 million worth. These moves are important to note, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 2 funds heading into Q2.

Insider trading activity in Ameren Corp (NYSE:AEE)

Insider buying is particularly usable when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest 180-day time period, Ameren Corp (NYSE:AEE) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Ameren Corp (NYSE:AEE). These stocks are NV Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NVE), Northeast Utilities System (NYSE:NU), CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP), NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI), and NRG Energy Inc (NYSE:NRG). This group of stocks belong to the diversified utilities industry and their market caps are closest to AEE’s market cap.

With the returns exhibited by Insider Monkey’s studies, everyday investors must always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Ameren Corp (NYSE:AEE) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.

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