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

Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors bought 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.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameren

In related news, CFO Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.44, for a total value of $659,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 198,973 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,183,821.12. The trade was a 3.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ameren by 3.7% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,582,578 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,417,351,000 after acquiring an additional 1,268,457 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Ameren by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,045,845 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,466,105,000 after purchasing an additional 328,401 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Ameren by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,242,392 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $692,794,000 after purchasing an additional 192,808 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ameren by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,283,529 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $655,892,000 after purchasing an additional 60,519 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Ameren by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,140,239 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $536,538,000 after purchasing an additional 49,282 shares during the period. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ameren Stock Performance

NYSE:AEE opened at $99.57 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.93 billion, a PE ratio of 19.15, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.58. Ameren has a 1 year low of $87.55 and a 1 year high of $106.73. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $101.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $100.86.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $2.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $2.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.64 billion. Ameren had a net margin of 15.75% and a return on equity of 10.92%. The business’s revenue was up 24.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.87 EPS. Ameren has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.250-5.450 EPS and its FY 2025 guidance at 4.900-5.100 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ameren will post 4.93 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on AEE. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ameren in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Ameren in a report on Monday, October 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $112.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley set a $103.00 price target on shares of Ameren in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. Argus upgraded Ameren to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded shares of Ameren from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ameren currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $108.80.

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.