Ameren (NYSE:AEE) Price Target Lowered to $73.00 at Barclays

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) had its price objective reduced by Barclays from $74.00 to $73.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Ameren from $77.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Ameren from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Ameren in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued a sell rating and a $73.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ameren from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Ameren from $77.00 to $72.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $79.40.

Ameren Stock Down 0.3 %

NYSE:AEE opened at $71.58 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $71.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $73.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.43. Ameren has a one year low of $67.03 and a one year high of $91.18. The company has a market cap of $19.08 billion, a PE ratio of 16.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.44.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.03 billion. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 15.36%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 20.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.63 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ameren will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.74%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 12th. This is a positive change from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. Ameren’s payout ratio is 61.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameren

In other Ameren news, EVP Mark C. Lindgren sold 1,630 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.70, for a total transaction of $115,241.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 47,883 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,385,328.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Ameren news, EVP Mark C. Lindgren sold 1,630 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.70, for a total transaction of $115,241.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 47,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,385,328.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Martin J. Lyons sold 7,270 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.70, for a total transaction of $513,989.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 246,434 shares in the company, valued at $17,422,883.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ameren

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Colony Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Colony Group LLC now owns 3,405 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $294,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 18,055 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,475,000 after buying an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,928 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $512,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Toroso Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Toroso Investments LLC now owns 3,059 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $272,000 after buying an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alaska Permanent Fund Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp now owns 20,487 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,533,000 after buying an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.