Ameren (NYSE:AEE) PT Raised to $85.00 at Morgan Stanley

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) had its price target raised by Morgan Stanley from $81.00 to $85.00 in a research note published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on AEE. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Ameren in a research note on Friday, July 19th. They issued a buy rating and a $87.00 target price for the company. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Ameren in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a buy rating and a $97.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Ameren from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Ameren from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Ameren from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and upped their price objective for the company from $73.00 to $77.00 in a report on Thursday, May 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ameren has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $85.33.

Ameren Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE AEE opened at $86.49 on Wednesday. Ameren has a 12-month low of $67.03 and a 12-month high of $87.10. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $82.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $75.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.06 billion, a PE ratio of 19.88, 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 16.28%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Ameren will post 4.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 11th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.10%. Ameren’s payout ratio is currently 61.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ameren

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in Ameren by 115.3% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 366 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ameren during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ameren by 117.6% in the 1st quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 370 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ameren in the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Ameren during the first quarter worth $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

About Ameren

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.