Ameren Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:AEE)

Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Traders bought 2,984 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 2,268% compared to the average daily volume of 126 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on AEE shares. Barclays increased their price objective on Ameren from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Evercore ISI upgraded Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $89.00 to $104.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Ameren from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ameren has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $96.70.

Insider Activity at Ameren

In other news, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.79, for a total transaction of $492,275.97. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 57,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,966,471.94. The trade was a 7.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.27, for a total transaction of $266,901.32. Following the sale, the director now owns 14,495 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,424,423.65. The trade was a 15.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 12,959 shares of company stock valued at $1,316,712. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ameren

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Ameren by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 27,048,729 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,411,125,000 after purchasing an additional 392,170 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Ameren by 16.7% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 17,038,754 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,518,835,000 after buying an additional 2,439,811 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Ameren by 2.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,139,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,149,221,000 after buying an additional 334,752 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Ameren by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,749,446 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $600,157,000 after buying an additional 77,282 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Ameren by 96.5% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,170,709 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $460,917,000 after acquiring an additional 2,539,129 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Price Performance

Shares of AEE opened at $101.67 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $27.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.00, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.48. Ameren has a fifty-two week low of $69.39 and a fifty-two week high of $104.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $98.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $92.44.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 period last year, the firm earned $0.60 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Ameren will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th were paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.79%. This is a positive change from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 11th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.