Investors Buy Large Volume of Ameren Call Options (NYSE:AEE)

Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) was the target of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 2,984 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 2,268% compared to the average daily volume of 126 call options.

Institutional Trading of Ameren

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ameren by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,645,555 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,559,565,000 after buying an additional 495,945 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Ameren by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 15,885,476 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,586,324,000 after purchasing an additional 362,052 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Ameren by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,503,721 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,448,342,000 after purchasing an additional 457,876 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Ameren by 1.0% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,283,529 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $655,892,000 after purchasing an additional 60,519 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Ameren by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,290,191 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $528,278,000 after purchasing an additional 149,952 shares in the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AEE shares. Barclays increased their price target on Ameren from $104.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Mizuho set a $117.00 price target on Ameren in a research note on Friday, February 13th. UBS Group increased their price target on Ameren from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Weiss Ratings raised Ameren from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $120.00 price target on shares of Ameren in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ameren presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $117.31.

Ameren Stock Down 0.4%

AEE stock opened at $109.02 on Thursday. Ameren has a twelve month low of $93.27 and a twelve month high of $115.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $110.77 and its 200-day moving average is $106.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.17 billion, a PE ratio of 19.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.50.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.28 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $2.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.94% and a net margin of 17.17%.Ameren’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.07 earnings per share. Ameren has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.250-5.450 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Ameren will post 5.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Ameren

Ameren Corporation (NYSE: AEE) is an integrated energy company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, that provides electric and natural gas delivery and related services in portions of Missouri and Illinois. The company operates regulated utility businesses that serve a broad mix of residential, commercial and industrial customers, and it participates in wholesale energy markets and transmission operations that support reliable service across its service territories.

Ameren’s core activities include generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, distribution of natural gas, and the provision of customer energy solutions such as demand-side management and energy efficiency programs.