Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) Receives $115.92 Consensus PT from Brokerages

Shares of Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the fourteen analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $117.3077.

Several brokerages have recently commented on AEE. UBS Group increased their price objective on Ameren from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Wall Street Zen lowered Ameren from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Ameren from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. BTIG Research started coverage on Ameren in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. They set a “buy” rating and a $131.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Truist Financial started coverage on Ameren in a research report on Monday. They set a “buy” rating and a $126.00 price target on the stock.

Ameren Price Performance

Shares of Ameren stock opened at $109.18 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.20 billion, a PE ratio of 20.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.52. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $110.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $105.47. Ameren has a 12 month low of $93.27 and a 12 month high of $115.53.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.69 billion. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.69% and a net margin of 16.55%.The company’s revenue was down 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.77 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ameren will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 10th. This is a positive change from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is 56.07%.

Insider Transactions at Ameren

In related news, insider Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.60, for a total transaction of $673,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 193,076 shares in the company, valued at $20,002,673.60. This trade represents a 3.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ameren

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AEE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Ameren by 68.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,080,775 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $425,951,000 after acquiring an additional 1,661,019 shares during the last quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd raised its stake in shares of Ameren by 104,698.0% during the third quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd now owns 1,370,758 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $143,091,000 after acquiring an additional 1,369,450 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ameren by 6,051.1% during the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 932,017 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $93,071,000 after acquiring an additional 916,865 shares during the last quarter. Homestead Advisers Corp bought a new stake in shares of Ameren in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $76,614,000. Finally, Clark Capital Management Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ameren in the 4th quarter worth approximately $66,631,000. 79.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ameren Company Profile

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.