Morgan Stanley Issues Positive Forecast for Ameren (NYSE:AEE) Stock Price

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) had its target price boosted by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $101.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 1.24% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Evercore ISI upgraded Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Ameren from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $94.10.

Ameren Trading Down 0.3 %

Ameren stock traded down $0.30 during trading on Thursday, reaching $99.76. 175,785 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,422,358. Ameren has a 52-week low of $69.39 and a 52-week high of $104.10. The company has a market capitalization of $26.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.64, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.44. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $96.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $91.28.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by ($0.06). Ameren had a return on equity of 10.34% and a net margin of 15.51%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.60 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ameren will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ameren news, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.27, for a total transaction of $266,901.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 14,495 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,424,423.65. The trade was a 15.78 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.79, for a total value of $492,275.97. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 57,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,966,471.94. This trade represents a 7.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 12,959 shares of company stock valued at $1,316,712 in the last three months. 0.42% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ameren

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 21.7% in the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 5,231 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $458,000 after purchasing an additional 934 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 41,320 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,614,000 after purchasing an additional 5,016 shares during the last quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 31,943 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,794,000 after purchasing an additional 2,182 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ameren in the 3rd quarter valued at about $233,000. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new stake in shares of Ameren in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,007,000. 79.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Ameren

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.