Ameren Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:AEE)

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on AEE. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Ameren in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set a “sell” rating and a $73.00 target price on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Ameren from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Barclays cut their target price on Ameren from $74.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com lowered Ameren from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on Ameren from $77.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ameren currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $79.40.

Ameren Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of Ameren stock opened at $71.93 on Thursday. Ameren has a 52 week low of $67.03 and a 52 week high of $91.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.65. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $71.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $73.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.17 billion, a PE ratio of 16.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.44.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by ($0.01). Ameren had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 10.42%. The company had revenue of $1.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.63 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 20.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ameren will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.73%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 12th. This is a positive change from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 61.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameren

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Ameren by 100,874.2% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 74,273,572 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,604,406,000 after acquiring an additional 74,200,015 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Ameren by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,289,721 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,335,838,000 after purchasing an additional 180,794 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Ameren by 46.1% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 18,337,950 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,326,568,000 after purchasing an additional 5,790,342 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Ameren by 8.0% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,889,994 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,302,326,000 after buying an additional 1,029,187 shares in the last quarter. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Ameren by 22.9% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,824,707 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,051,453,000 after buying an additional 2,200,700 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

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.