Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) Receives $113.30 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the thirteen ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation, five have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $113.30.

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Ameren from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Ameren from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” 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. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Ameren from $112.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Ameren from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th.

Ameren Price Performance

NYSE:AEE opened at $111.47 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.84, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.56. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $105.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $103.10. Ameren has a 1 year low of $91.77 and a 1 year high of $113.64.

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

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. This is a positive change from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.08%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ameren news, insider Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.60, for a total transaction of $673,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 193,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,002,673.60. This trade represents a 3.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ameren

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Ameren by 22.9% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 8,077 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $811,000 after acquiring an additional 1,503 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in Ameren by 19.8% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 6,255 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $628,000 after purchasing an additional 1,034 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP grew its stake in shares of Ameren by 42.2% during the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 22,802 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,289,000 after purchasing an additional 6,772 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ameren by 12.1% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 113,162 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,868,000 after purchasing an additional 12,213 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its stake in shares of Ameren by 5.1% in the 2nd quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 41,006 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,938,000 after purchasing an additional 1,984 shares during the period. 79.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Ameren

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.