Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the eleven ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $96.70.

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Ameren from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Evercore ISI raised Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $89.00 to $104.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Ameren from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Ameren from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th.

Ameren Stock Down 1.1 %

AEE opened at $98.89 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.66. Ameren has a one year low of $69.39 and a one year high of $104.10. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $96.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $91.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.48.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (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 period in the previous year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Ameren will post 4.93 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.87%. This is an increase from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.25%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.27, for a total transaction of $266,901.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,495 shares in the company, valued at $1,424,423.65. The trade was a 15.78 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of Ameren 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 owns 57,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,966,471.94. This represents a 7.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 12,959 shares of company stock worth $1,316,712. Company insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AEE. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 2,901,047 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Ameren by 96.5% in the 4th 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% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 17,038,754 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,518,835,000 after acquiring an additional 2,439,811 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in Ameren by 116.0% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,357,876 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $210,181,000 after acquiring an additional 1,266,051 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in Ameren by 76.7% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,134,288 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $190,250,000 after acquiring an additional 926,126 shares during the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.