Ameren (NYSE:AEE) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ameren (NYSE:AEE) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Ameren from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Ameren from $112.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Ameren from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Ameren from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $116.00 target price on shares of Ameren in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ameren has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $113.45.

Ameren Stock Performance

NYSE:AEE opened at $106.80 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The firm has a market cap of $29.52 billion, a PE ratio of 19.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.56. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $107.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $103.94. Ameren has a 1-year low of $91.77 and a 1-year high of $113.93.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.69 billion. Ameren had a net margin of 16.55% and a return on equity of 10.69%. Ameren’s revenue was down 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.77 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Ameren will post 4.93 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders 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 yield of 2.8%. This is a boost from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.07%.

Insider Transactions at Ameren

In other Ameren news, insider Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider owned 193,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,002,673.60. This trade represents a 3.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AEE. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Ameren by 22.9% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 8,077 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $811,000 after acquiring an additional 1,503 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ameren by 19.8% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 6,255 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $628,000 after acquiring an additional 1,034 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP boosted its holdings in Ameren by 42.2% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 22,802 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,289,000 after purchasing an additional 6,772 shares during the last quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ameren in the second quarter valued at about $299,000. Finally, Prudential PLC acquired a new stake in Ameren during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $404,000. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ameren Company Profile

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.