Ameren (NYSE:AEE) Stock Gets Downgrade from Wall Street Zen

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) was downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a note issued to investors on Sunday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ameren in a report on Friday, August 7th. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Ameren in a research report on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating and a $114.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Ameren from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 21st. BTIG Research set a $126.00 price target on shares of Ameren in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Ameren from $116.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 13th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $116.74.

Ameren Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AEE opened at $108.14 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $104.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $108.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.94 billion, a PE ratio of 19.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.44. Ameren has a fifty-two week low of $96.57 and a fifty-two week high of $118.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.53.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $2.09 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.27 billion. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.95% and a net margin of 17.86%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.01 earnings per share. Ameren has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.250-5.450 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ameren will post 5.40 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Rafael Flores sold 248 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.53, for a total value of $26,171.44. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 13,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,465,600.64. This represents a 1.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Michael Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.96, for a total transaction of $708,240.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 199,689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,758,113.44. This trade represents a 3.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 7,073 shares of company stock valued at $769,814. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ameren

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Keating Financial Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in Ameren in the second quarter valued at $27,000. Continuum Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ameren during the second quarter worth about $30,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ameren by 74.9% during the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 292 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. Aberdeen Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ameren during the second quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Ascentis Independent Advisors purchased a new position in shares of Ameren during the first quarter worth about $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

About Ameren

Ameren Corporation is a regulated electric and natural gas utility holding company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Through its operating companies, Ameren Missouri and Ameren Illinois, the company provides electric generation, transmission and distribution services, as well as natural gas distribution.

Ameren serves approximately 2.5 million electric customers and more than 900,000 natural gas customers across Missouri and Illinois. Its operations include a diverse generation portfolio and infrastructure designed to deliver reliable energy to residential, commercial and industrial customers, while supporting the transition toward cleaner energy resources.

Ameren was formed in 1997 through the merger of Union Electric Company and CIPSCO Inc The company is led by Martin J.