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

Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation, six have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $87.80.

AEE has been the topic of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Ameren from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Ameren from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Ameren in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $97.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Ameren to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th.

Insider Activity at Ameren

In other Ameren news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.94, for a total transaction of $131,923.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,432 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,640,758.08. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ameren

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Ameren by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,092,435 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,447,516,000 after acquiring an additional 802,714 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Ameren by 25.0% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 22,931,588 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,696,022,000 after buying an additional 4,593,638 shares during the period. Zimmer Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of Ameren by 204.3% during the 1st quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 3,827,897 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $283,111,000 after buying an additional 2,569,897 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ameren by 0.8% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,877,721 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $212,836,000 after acquiring an additional 23,967 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in Ameren by 106.1% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,498,158 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $177,644,000 after purchasing an additional 1,286,162 shares during the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ameren Stock Performance

Shares of Ameren stock opened at $89.20 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.67. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $85.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $77.82. Ameren has a 1 year low of $67.03 and a 1 year high of $89.21. The firm has a market cap of $23.79 billion, a PE ratio of 20.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.45.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.04. Ameren had a net margin of 16.28% and a return on equity of 10.20%. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Ameren will post 4.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.00%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.61%.

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.