Analysts Set Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) Target Price at $92.70

Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $92.70.

AEE has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays downgraded shares of Ameren from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $88.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Ameren from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th.

Ameren Stock Performance

Shares of AEE stock opened at $99.35 on Wednesday. Ameren has a 12 month low of $69.39 and a 12 month high of $100.61. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $93.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $89.37. The stock has a market cap of $26.81 billion, a PE ratio of 22.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 business posted $0.60 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Ameren will post 4.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be paid a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.86%. This is an increase from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ameren news, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.27, for a total value of $266,901.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 14,495 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,424,423.65. This represents a 15.78 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ameren

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of AEE. Versor Investments LP purchased a new stake in shares of Ameren during the 3rd quarter worth $1,417,000. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Ameren by 59.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,631,580 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $230,158,000 after acquiring an additional 984,879 shares in the last quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC purchased a new position in Ameren in the third quarter worth $1,682,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Ameren by 51.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,064,877 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $93,134,000 after purchasing an additional 362,772 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ameren by 265.0% during the third quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC now owns 173,771 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,198,000 after acquiring an additional 126,157 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

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.