Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE – Get Rating) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 2,984 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 2,268% compared to the typical volume of 126 call options.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several research firms have recently weighed in on AEE. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Ameren from $101.00 to $97.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 17th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Ameren from $89.00 to $84.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 21st. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Ameren in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Guggenheim cut shares of Ameren from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $84.00 to $89.00 in a research note on Monday, January 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $94.40.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other news, EVP Mark C. Lindgren sold 3,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.19, for a total transaction of $254,124.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 45,343 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,681,398.17. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Mark C. Lindgren sold 3,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.19, for a total transaction of $254,124.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 45,343 shares in the company, valued at $3,681,398.17. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Rafael Flores sold 1,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.15, for a total transaction of $163,685.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 14,172 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,220,917.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 63,509 shares of company stock valued at $5,221,792. Insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
Ameren Stock Performance
Ameren stock opened at $89.27 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $84.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $85.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.39 billion, a PE ratio of 21.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.79. Ameren has a one year low of $73.28 and a one year high of $99.20.
Ameren (NYSE:AEE – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.07. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.50% and a net margin of 13.50%. The firm had revenue of $2.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.15 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.48 EPS. Ameren’s revenue for the quarter was up 32.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ameren will post 4.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Ameren Increases Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.63 per share. This is an increase from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 14th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is presently 60.87%.
Ameren Company Profile
Ameren Corp. is a public utility holding company, which engages in the provision of electric and natural gas services. It operates through the following segments: Ameren Missouri, Ameren Illinois Electric Distribution, Ameren Illinois Natural Gas, Ameren Transmission, and Other. The Ameren Transmission segment consists of the aggregated electric transmission businesses of Ameren Illinois and Ameren Transmission Company of Illinois (ATXI).
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