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

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) had its price objective cut by Morgan Stanley from $76.00 to $72.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “equal weight” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 1.59% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on AEE. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Ameren from $77.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Ameren from $81.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Barclays upgraded shares of Ameren from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $73.00 to $77.00 in a report on Thursday, May 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Ameren in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set a “sell” rating and a $73.00 price target on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com raised Ameren from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $79.20.

Ameren Trading Up 0.9 %

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

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

Insider Activity at Ameren

In other news, EVP Mark C. Lindgren sold 4,000 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 16th. The shares were 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 $3,318,410.55. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other 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 transaction of $302,120.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,318,410.55. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Rafael Flores sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.29, for a total value of $106,935.00. Following the sale, the director now 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 currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ameren

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