Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the twelve brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $85.00.

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Ameren from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Mizuho upgraded Ameren from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $82.00 to $89.00 in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Ameren from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Ameren from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Ameren in a research note on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating and a $97.00 price target on the stock.

Ameren Trading Up 2.4 %

Shares of Ameren stock opened at $85.62 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $80.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $75.46. The stock has a market cap of $22.83 billion, a PE ratio of 19.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. Ameren has a 12-month low of $67.03 and a 12-month high of $85.85.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 16.28%. Ameren’s quarterly revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ameren will post 4.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 11th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.13%. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 61.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ameren news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were 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 $3,640,758.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ameren

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position 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 worth $2,447,516,000 after acquiring an additional 802,714 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Ameren by 25.0% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 22,931,588 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,696,022,000 after purchasing an additional 4,593,638 shares during the last quarter. Putnam Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP grew its position 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 worth $283,111,000 after buying an additional 2,569,897 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ameren by 0.8% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,877,721 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $212,836,000 after buying an additional 23,967 shares during 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.