Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) Short Interest Down 9.1% in March

Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) was the target of a significant drop in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,320,000 shares, a drop of 9.1% from the March 15th total of 4,750,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,840,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.3 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ameren news, CEO Martin J. Lyons sold 7,270 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.70, for a total value of $513,989.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 246,434 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,422,883.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, EVP Mark C. Lindgren sold 1,630 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.70, for a total transaction of $115,241.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 47,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,385,328.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Martin J. Lyons sold 7,270 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.70, for a total transaction of $513,989.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 246,434 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,422,883.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ameren

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AEE. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Ameren in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Penserra Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ameren in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ameren by 218.2% in the 3rd quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 350 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares during the period. Dark Forest Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Ameren in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Ameren in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Ameren from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Ameren from $74.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $77.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Ameren in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $73.00 price objective for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $79.40.

Ameren Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AEE traded down $1.24 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $70.34. The company had a trading volume of 1,105,316 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,262,557. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $71.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $73.51. Ameren has a fifty-two week low of $67.03 and a fifty-two week high of $91.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $1.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.03 billion. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 15.36%. The business’s revenue was down 20.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.63 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Ameren will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.81%. This is a positive change from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 12th. Ameren’s payout ratio is presently 61.33%.

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.