Ameren (NYSE:AEE) PT Raised to $96.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) had its price objective boosted by Wells Fargo & Company from $91.00 to $96.00 in a report published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Ameren from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Barclays raised Ameren from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $73.00 to $77.00 in a report on Thursday, May 30th. UBS Group assumed coverage on Ameren in a research note on Friday, July 19th. They set a buy rating and a $87.00 price target for the company. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Ameren in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a buy rating and a $97.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Ameren from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ameren currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $85.00.

Ameren Price Performance

NYSE AEE opened at $85.65 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $81.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $75.56. Ameren has a 52 week low of $67.03 and a 52 week high of $86.15. The stock has a market cap of $22.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 16.28%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. Analysts forecast that Ameren will post 4.62 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 11th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is presently 61.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ameren news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.94, for a total transaction of $131,923.40. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,432 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,640,758.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ameren

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Ameren by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 898,638 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $65,007,000 after buying an additional 12,431 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in Ameren by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 7,414 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $536,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC grew its stake in Ameren by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC now owns 3,596 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $260,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new position in Ameren in the 4th quarter worth about $587,000. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its stake in shares of Ameren by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 183,485 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $13,273,000 after purchasing an additional 16,269 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

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.