Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have given a hold recommendation, six have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $92.70.

AEE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI upgraded Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Ameren from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays downgraded Ameren from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $88.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday.

Institutional Trading of Ameren

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GTS Securities LLC raised its stake in Ameren by 29.8% during the 4th quarter. GTS Securities LLC now owns 2,512 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $224,000 after purchasing an additional 577 shares during the period. Vise Technologies Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ameren in the fourth quarter worth $244,000. Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Ameren by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC now owns 13,145 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,172,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of Ameren by 23.9% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,200,397 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $107,003,000 after acquiring an additional 231,373 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Woodline Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Ameren in the fourth quarter worth $1,429,000. 79.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ameren Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AEE opened at $98.28 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $92.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $88.63. The company has a market cap of $26.23 billion, a PE ratio of 23.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.49. Ameren has a 12-month low of $69.31 and a 12-month high of $100.61.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.83 by ($0.06). Ameren had a return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 15.52%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Ameren will post 4.63 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is an increase from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. Ameren’s payout ratio is 63.06%.

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.