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

Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $99.22.

AEE has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays lowered their target price on Ameren from $102.00 to $101.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Ameren from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ameren news, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of Ameren 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 14,495 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,424,423.65. The trade was a 15.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.37, for a total transaction of $557,535.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 43,344 shares in the company, valued at $4,393,781.28. This represents a 11.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 12,959 shares of company stock valued at $1,316,712. 0.42% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ameren

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Ameren by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 27,087 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,374,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ameren during the third quarter valued at approximately $223,000. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its position in Ameren by 3.3% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 35,686 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,121,000 after acquiring an additional 1,144 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Ameren in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $286,000. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in Ameren by 57.7% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 174,840 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,291,000 after acquiring an additional 63,993 shares during the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ameren Stock Performance

Shares of Ameren stock opened at $98.10 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $98.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $93.23. Ameren has a 12 month low of $69.39 and a 12 month high of $104.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.19, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.44.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced its earnings results 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 net margin of 15.51% and a return on equity of 10.34%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ameren will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th were issued a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.90%. This is a boost from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.25%.

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.