Ameren (NYSE:AEE) Price Target Raised to $104.00

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) had its price objective raised by Barclays from $101.00 to $104.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on AEE. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Ameren in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Ameren from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ameren in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Evercore ISI raised shares of Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $89.00 to $104.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Ameren from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $99.89.

Ameren Trading Down 1.9 %

AEE stock opened at $97.66 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.51. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $98.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $94.47. Ameren has a fifty-two week low of $69.39 and a fifty-two week high of $104.10.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.01). Ameren had a return on equity of 10.34% and a net margin of 15.51%. The company had revenue of $2.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Ameren will post 4.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Ameren

In related news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.37, for a total value of $557,535.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 43,344 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,393,781.28. This trade represents a 11.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.79, for a total value of $492,275.97. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 57,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,966,471.94. This trade represents a 7.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 12,959 shares of company stock valued at $1,316,712 over the last 90 days. 0.42% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ameren

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its position in Ameren by 1,732.4% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 3,068,505 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $273,527,000 after buying an additional 2,901,047 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Ameren by 96.5% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,170,709 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $460,917,000 after acquiring an additional 2,539,129 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Ameren by 16.7% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 17,038,754 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,518,835,000 after acquiring an additional 2,439,811 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in shares of Ameren by 116.0% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,357,876 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $210,181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,266,051 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ameren by 76.7% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,134,288 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $190,250,000 after purchasing an additional 926,126 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

About Ameren

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.