Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) Receives $93.40 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $94.10.

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Ameren from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Evercore ISI raised Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective 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, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Ameren from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ameren news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.37, for a total value of $557,535.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,344 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,393,781.28. The trade was a 11.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.79, for a total value of $492,275.97. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 57,486 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,966,471.94. This trade represents a 7.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 12,959 shares of company stock valued at $1,316,712 over the last ninety days. 0.42% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ameren

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ameren during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in Ameren during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Ameren in the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ameren in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Optiver Holding B.V. raised its position in Ameren by 78.7% in the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 470 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of AEE opened at $100.01 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $26.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.66. Ameren has a 52 week low of $69.39 and a 52 week high of $104.10. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $96.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $91.34.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 in the prior year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Ameren will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be given a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. This is a positive change from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Ameren’s payout ratio is 64.25%.

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.