Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) Receives $113.30 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the thirteen ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation, five have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $113.30.

AEE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Ameren from $112.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Mizuho set a $117.00 target price on shares of Ameren in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ameren in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Ameren from $111.00 to $104.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 15th.

Insider Activity at Ameren

In related news, insider Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.60, for a total transaction of $673,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 193,076 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,002,673.60. This trade represents a 3.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ameren

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. NewSquare Capital LLC lifted its stake in Ameren by 70.9% in the second quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 258 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Ameren by 285.5% during the 3rd quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 266 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Ameren in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Garton & Associates Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ameren in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Osterweis Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Ameren by 6,040.0% in the second quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. now owns 307 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Stock Performance

AEE opened at $112.06 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. The firm has a market cap of $30.98 billion, a PE ratio of 20.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.56. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $104.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $102.97. Ameren has a fifty-two week low of $91.77 and a fifty-two week high of $113.64.

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

Ameren Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. This is a positive change from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.