Ameren (NYSE:AEE) Hits New 12-Month High at $87.19

Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $87.19 and last traded at $86.20, with a volume of 32797 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $86.49.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AEE. Bank of America upped their price target on Ameren from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. UBS Group assumed coverage on Ameren in a research report on Friday, July 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $87.00 price objective for the company. Argus upgraded Ameren to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Ameren from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded Ameren from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $82.00 to $89.00 in a research report on Monday, September 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ameren has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.33.

Ameren Trading Down 0.2 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.67. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $82.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $75.93. The stock has a market cap of $23.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.45.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.04. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 16.28%. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ameren Co. will post 4.62 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 11th. Ameren’s payout ratio is presently 61.61%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.94, for a total value of $131,923.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,640,758.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ameren

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 7,414 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $536,000 after buying an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 183,485 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $13,273,000 after buying an additional 16,269 shares in the last quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. ADV acquired a new stake in shares of Ameren during the fourth quarter worth $322,000. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 119,899 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,673,000 after buying an additional 1,220 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Qtron Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ameren during the fourth quarter worth $303,000. 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.