Traders Buy Large Volume of Ameren Call Options (NYSE:AEE)

Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) was the target of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders bought 2,984 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 2,268% compared to the typical volume of 126 call options.

Insider Transactions at Ameren

In other news, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.27, for a total transaction of $266,901.32. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,495 shares in the company, valued at $1,424,423.65. The trade was a 15.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.79, for a total transaction of $492,275.97. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 57,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,966,471.94. The trade was a 7.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 12,959 shares of company stock worth $1,316,712 over the last 90 days. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AEE. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its position in Ameren by 21.7% during the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 5,231 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $458,000 after buying an additional 934 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 45,416 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,972,000 after acquiring an additional 2,957 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Ameren by 13.8% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 41,320 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,614,000 after acquiring an additional 5,016 shares during the last quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC increased its position in Ameren by 6.1% during the third quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 76,037 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,650,000 after purchasing an additional 4,378 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank raised its stake in Ameren by 0.3% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 791,400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $69,216,000 after purchasing an additional 2,300 shares during the period. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Ameren from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $89.00 to $104.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Ameren from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four 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.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $93.40.

Ameren Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of AEE opened at $100.13 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.44. Ameren has a 1-year low of $69.39 and a 1-year high of $104.10. The stock has a market cap of $27.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.48. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $96.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $91.28.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.83 by ($0.06). Ameren had a return on equity of 10.34% and a net margin of 15.51%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.60 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Ameren will post 4.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is an increase from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.84%. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.25%.

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.