Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) Receives $92.70 Average Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have issued a hold recommendation, six have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $92.70.

A number of equities analysts have commented on AEE shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays lowered shares of Ameren from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $88.00 to $95.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.27, for a total transaction of $266,901.32. Following the sale, the director now owns 14,495 shares in the company, valued at $1,424,423.65. This represents a 15.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.42% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Versor Investments LP bought a new position in Ameren in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,417,000. FMR LLC grew its position in Ameren by 59.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,631,580 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $230,158,000 after purchasing an additional 984,879 shares during the last quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC bought a new position in Ameren in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,682,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Ameren by 51.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,064,877 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $93,134,000 after purchasing an additional 362,772 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC grew its position in Ameren by 265.0% in the 3rd quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC now owns 173,771 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,198,000 after purchasing an additional 126,157 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Stock Performance

Shares of AEE stock opened at $98.52 on Wednesday. Ameren has a 12 month low of $69.39 and a 12 month high of $100.61. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $26.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.49. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $92.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $88.86.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by ($0.06). Ameren had a return on equity of 10.34% and a net margin of 15.51%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.60 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ameren will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is a positive change from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.88%. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is 64.25%.

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.