Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) Increases Dividend to $0.71 Per Share

Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 7th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be given a dividend of 0.71 per share by the utilities provider on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.93%. This is an increase from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67.

Ameren has raised its dividend payment by an average of 6.8% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 11 consecutive years. Ameren has a dividend payout ratio of 50.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Ameren to earn $4.93 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.68 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 54.4%.

Ameren Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AEE traded up $0.22 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $96.97. 891,718 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,302,327. Ameren has a 52 week low of $67.03 and a 52 week high of $97.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.63. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $91.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $87.52. The company has a market cap of $25.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.49.

Insider Activity at Ameren

In other news, CFO Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.15, for a total value of $598,975.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 205,171 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,906,507.65. This trade represents a 3.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on AEE shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Ameren from $93.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Barclays cut shares of Ameren from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $88.00 to $95.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $89.00 to $104.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Ameren from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $92.00.

Ameren Company Profile

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.