Morgan Stanley Cuts Ameren (NYSE:AEE) Price Target to $108.00

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) had its target price decreased by Morgan Stanley from $114.00 to $108.00 in a report issued on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen cut Ameren from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Ameren from $124.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 17th. KeyCorp upgraded Ameren from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $122.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ameren in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $120.92.

Ameren Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE:AEE opened at $102.31 on Friday. Ameren has a 52 week low of $96.57 and a 52 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. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $108.34 and its 200-day moving average is $109.80. The firm has a market cap of $28.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.46.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $2.09 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.27 billion. Ameren had a net margin of 17.86% and a return on equity of 10.95%. Ameren’s quarterly revenue was down 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.01 earnings per share. Ameren has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.250-5.450 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Ameren will post 5.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. Ameren’s payout ratio is currently 52.82%.

Insider Transactions at Ameren

In related news, SVP Theresa A. Shaw sold 325 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.93, for a total transaction of $35,402.25. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 32,340 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,522,796.20. This trade represents a 0.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Rafael Flores sold 248 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the director owned 13,888 shares in the company, valued at $1,465,600.64. The trade was a 1.75% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 7,073 shares of company stock worth $769,814 in the last quarter. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AEE. Droms Strauss Advisors Inc. MO ADV grew its position in Ameren by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Droms Strauss Advisors Inc. MO ADV now owns 4,162 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $457,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Fortitude Advisory Group L.L.C. lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 4.3% during the first quarter. Fortitude Advisory Group L.L.C. now owns 2,269 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $249,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 1.6% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 5,746 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $632,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ameren by 5.1% during the second quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,990 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $225,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ameren by 19.4% during the first quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 602 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Company Profile

Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) is a regulated electric and natural gas utility holding company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Through its operating companies, Ameren provides energy generation, transmission, distribution and related services to customers in Missouri and Illinois.

Ameren Missouri operates an integrated electric utility serving communities across Missouri and also provides natural gas distribution services in parts of the state. Ameren Illinois operates electric and natural gas distribution businesses serving customers throughout much of Illinois.