Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Ameren Call Options (NYSE:AEE)

Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders acquired 2,984 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 2,268% compared to the typical volume of 126 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ameren

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its holdings in Ameren by 1,732.4% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 3,068,505 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $273,527,000 after acquiring an additional 2,901,047 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Ameren by 96.5% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,170,709 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $460,917,000 after purchasing an additional 2,539,129 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Ameren by 16.7% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 17,038,754 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,518,835,000 after purchasing an additional 2,439,811 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Ameren by 116.0% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,357,876 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $210,181,000 after buying an additional 1,266,051 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ameren by 8,645.7% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,160,998 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,015,410,000 after buying an additional 1,147,723 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Stock Performance

Shares of AEE opened at $98.03 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.18, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.44. Ameren has a one year low of $69.31 and a one year high of $100.61. The business has a fifty day moving average of $92.31 and a 200 day moving average of $88.74.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by ($0.06). Ameren had a net margin of 15.51% and a return on equity of 10.34%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ameren will post 4.93 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be given a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. This is an increase from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.90%. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on AEE shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays cut Ameren from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $88.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Ameren from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $92.70.

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.