Ameren (NYSE:AEE) Price Target Raised to $101.00

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) had its target price boosted by Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $101.00 in a report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Evercore ISI raised Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Ameren from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $96.70.

Ameren Trading Down 1.1 %

AEE opened at $98.89 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $26.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.37, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. Ameren has a 12 month low of $69.39 and a 12 month high of $104.10. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $96.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $91.51.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 EPS 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 prior year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ameren will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be issued a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. This is a positive change from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.87%. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.25%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.27, for a total value of $266,901.32. Following the sale, the director now owns 14,495 shares in the company, valued at $1,424,423.65. This represents a 15.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.37, for a total value of $557,535.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 43,344 shares in the company, valued at $4,393,781.28. The trade was a 11.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 12,959 shares of company stock valued at $1,316,712. Company insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ameren

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AEE. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its stake in shares of Ameren by 1,732.4% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 3,068,505 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $273,527,000 after buying an additional 2,901,047 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ameren by 96.5% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,170,709 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $460,917,000 after buying an additional 2,539,129 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ameren by 16.7% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 17,038,754 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,518,835,000 after buying an additional 2,439,811 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Ameren by 116.0% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,357,876 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $210,181,000 after buying an additional 1,266,051 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in Ameren by 76.7% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,134,288 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $190,250,000 after purchasing an additional 926,126 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.