Investors Buy High Volume of Call Options on Ameren (NYSE:AEE)

Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 2,984 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 2,268% compared to the average daily volume of 126 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ameren in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Mizuho set a $117.00 target price on Ameren in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley set a $116.00 price target on Ameren in a report on Friday, February 20th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Ameren from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Ameren from $112.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ameren presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $113.30.

Insider Activity at Ameren

In other news, insider Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the business’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 value of $673,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 193,076 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,002,673.60. The trade was a 3.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.42% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ameren

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. CreativeOne Wealth LLC raised its position in Ameren by 1.3% in the third quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 7,448 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $777,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the period. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC grew its stake in shares of Ameren by 1.4% in the second quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 7,105 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $682,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Kentucky Trust Co raised its holdings in shares of Ameren by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 14,759 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,474,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Segment Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Ameren by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Segment Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,941 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $307,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewSquare Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Ameren by 70.9% during the 2nd quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 258 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Stock Performance

Shares of Ameren stock traded down $2.24 on Thursday, reaching $111.09. 568,224 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,767,604. Ameren has a twelve month low of $91.77 and a twelve month high of $113.64. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $105.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $103.04. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.76, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.56.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.78 billion for 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%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.77 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Ameren will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

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

Ameren Company Profile

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.