Ameren Co. (AEE) to Distribute Quarterly Dividend of $0.71 on June 30th

Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, May 9th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 10th will be paid a dividend of 0.71 per share by the utilities provider on Monday, June 30th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.91%.

Ameren has increased its dividend payment by an average of 6.8% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 12 consecutive years. Ameren has a dividend payout ratio of 53.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Ameren to earn $5.31 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.84 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 53.5%.

Ameren Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:AEE opened at $97.48 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.05, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.51. Ameren has a 1-year low of $69.39 and a 1-year high of $104.10. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $98.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $94.58. 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 (NYSE:AEE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.01). Ameren had a net margin of 15.51% and a return on equity of 10.34%. The firm had revenue of $2.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.92 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ameren will post 4.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AEE shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Ameren from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Ameren from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Ameren from $101.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Evercore ISI upgraded Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Ameren in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $99.89.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameren

In other Ameren news, 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 completion of 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 43,344 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,393,781.28. This represents a 11.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,959 shares of company stock valued at $1,316,712 in the last 90 days. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.