Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) Plans Dividend Increase – $0.71 Per Share

Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 7th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be given a dividend of 0.71 per share by the utilities provider on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.93%. This is an increase from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67.

Ameren has raised its dividend by an average of 6.8% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 11 years. Ameren has a payout ratio of 50.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Ameren to earn $4.93 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.68 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 54.4%.

Ameren Stock Performance

Shares of AEE stock traded up $0.22 during trading on Friday, hitting $96.97. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 891,718 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,302,327. The company has a market cap of $25.88 billion, a PE ratio of 22.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. The business has a fifty day moving average of $91.43 and a 200-day moving average of $87.52. Ameren has a 52 week low of $67.03 and a 52 week high of $97.37.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameren

In other news, CFO Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.15, for a total transaction of $598,975.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 205,171 shares in the company, valued at $18,906,507.65. The trade was a 3.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AEE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays lowered Ameren from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $88.00 to $95.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Evercore ISI upgraded Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $89.00 to $104.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Ameren from $93.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Ameren from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ameren has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $92.00.

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.