Ameren (NYSE:AEE) PT Raised to $88.00

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) had its price objective lifted by Barclays from $77.00 to $88.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Mizuho raised Ameren from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $82.00 to $89.00 in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Ameren in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $97.00 target price for the company. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Ameren in a research report on Friday, July 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $87.00 price target on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on Ameren from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.80.

Ameren Stock Performance

Shares of AEE stock opened at $88.32 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $84.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $77.36. Ameren has a 52 week low of $67.03 and a 52 week high of $88.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.55 billion, a PE ratio of 20.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.45.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. Ameren had a net margin of 16.28% and a return on equity of 10.20%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ameren will post 4.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be given a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.03%. Ameren’s payout ratio is 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 that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.94, for a total value of $131,923.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,432 shares in the company, valued at $3,640,758.08. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ameren

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 493.0% during the 1st quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 21,728 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,607,000 after purchasing an additional 18,064 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in Ameren by 703.6% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 129,346 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,566,000 after buying an additional 113,250 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Ameren by 392.0% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 19,434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,382,000 after buying an additional 15,484 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in Ameren by 137.2% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 100,154 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,407,000 after buying an additional 57,923 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new stake in Ameren in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,632,000. Institutional investors 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.