Investors Purchase Large Volume of Ameren Call Options (NYSE:AEE)

Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors acquired 2,984 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 2,268% compared to the average volume of 126 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AEE has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ameren from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Ameren from $81.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Barclays upgraded shares of Ameren from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $73.00 to $77.00 in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Ameren from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Ameren in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $73.00 price target on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $79.20.

Ameren Stock Down 0.0 %

NYSE:AEE opened at $70.14 on Thursday. Ameren has a 1-year low of $67.03 and a 1-year high of $88.72. The company has a 50-day moving average of $72.80 and a 200 day moving average of $72.12. The firm has a market cap of $18.70 billion, a PE ratio of 16.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.45. 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 (NYSE:AEE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.06 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.19 billion. Ameren had a net margin of 15.84% and a return on equity of 10.20%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.00 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ameren will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 12th will be given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 12th. Ameren’s payout ratio is 61.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Mark C. Lindgren sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now 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 available at the SEC website. In other Ameren news, EVP Mark C. Lindgren sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.53, for a total transaction of $302,120.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 43,935 shares in the company, valued at $3,318,410.55. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Rafael Flores sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now owns 13,768 shares in the company, valued at approximately $981,520.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ameren

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ameren by 2.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,092,435 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,447,516,000 after acquiring an additional 802,714 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Ameren by 25.0% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 22,931,588 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,696,022,000 after acquiring an additional 4,593,638 shares in the last quarter. Putnam Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ameren by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 5,112,645 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $369,849,000 after acquiring an additional 156,733 shares in the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP increased its holdings in shares of Ameren by 204.3% during the first quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 3,827,897 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $283,111,000 after acquiring an additional 2,569,897 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ameren by 0.8% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,877,721 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $212,836,000 after acquiring an additional 23,967 shares in the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.