Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Ameren (NYSE:AEE)

Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) saw unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders acquired 2,984 call options on the company. This is an increase of 2,268% compared to the average daily volume of 126 call options.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.60, for a total value of $673,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 193,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,002,673.60. The trade was a 3.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.42% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ameren

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its position in Ameren by 12.2% in the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 27,388 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,735,000 after purchasing an additional 2,979 shares during the period. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Ameren by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC now owns 3,707 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $370,000 after buying an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ameren during the 4th quarter valued at about $226,000. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury lifted its position in Ameren by 19.4% during the 4th quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury now owns 134,280 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $13,868,000 after acquiring an additional 21,777 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Ameren during the 4th quarter worth approximately $378,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Ameren from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Mizuho set a $117.00 price objective on Ameren in a report on Friday, February 13th. KeyCorp lowered Ameren from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Argus raised Ameren to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $111.30.

Ameren Price Performance

Shares of Ameren stock opened at $108.38 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $102.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $102.34. Ameren has a twelve month low of $91.77 and a twelve month high of $112.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.26, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.57.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.01. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.69% and a net margin of 16.55%.The company had revenue of $1.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.69 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.77 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ameren will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This is an increase from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. Ameren’s payout ratio is presently 53.08%.

About Ameren

Ameren Corporation (NYSE: AEE) is an integrated energy company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, that provides electric and natural gas delivery and related services in portions of Missouri and Illinois. The company operates regulated utility businesses that serve a broad mix of residential, commercial and industrial customers, and it participates in wholesale energy markets and transmission operations that support reliable service across its service territories.

Ameren’s core activities include generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, distribution of natural gas, and the provision of customer energy solutions such as demand-side management and energy efficiency programs.