Ameren (NYSE:AEE) Price Target Cut to $72.00 by Analysts at Morgan Stanley

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) had its price target reduced by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley from $76.00 to $72.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “equal weight” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target suggests a potential upside of 1.59% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on AEE. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Ameren from $81.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Ameren from $77.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com raised shares of Ameren from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Barclays raised shares of Ameren from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $73.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Ameren in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $73.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $79.20.

Ameren Price Performance

Shares of AEE stock traded up $0.62 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $70.87. The stock had a trading volume of 84,996 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,749,015. The company has a market cap of $18.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31. Ameren has a 12-month low of $67.03 and a 12-month high of $88.72. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $72.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $72.23.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.19 billion. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 15.84%. The business’s revenue was down 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.00 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ameren will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Mark C. Lindgren sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.53, for a total value of $302,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,935 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,318,410.55. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Ameren news, EVP Mark C. Lindgren sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.53, for a total value of $302,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 43,935 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,318,410.55. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Rafael Flores sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.29, for a total transaction of $106,935.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 13,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $981,520.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.42% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ameren

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Ameren by 245.5% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 56,575 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,093,000 after acquiring an additional 40,202 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Ameren by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 898,638 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $65,007,000 after purchasing an additional 12,431 shares in the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new stake in Ameren during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,168,000. Putnam Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Ameren by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 5,112,645 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $369,849,000 after purchasing an additional 156,733 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in shares of Ameren by 83.9% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 264,835 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $19,158,000 after buying an additional 120,849 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.