Analysts Set Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) PT at $99.22

Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) has received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the ten analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $99.22.

AEE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays dropped their price objective on Ameren from $102.00 to $101.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Evercore ISI upgraded Ameren from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Ameren from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Ameren from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.27, for a total transaction of $266,901.32. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,495 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,424,423.65. This trade represents a 15.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.79, for a total value of $492,275.97. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 57,486 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,966,471.94. This trade represents a 7.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 12,959 shares of company stock worth $1,316,712 in the last 90 days. 0.42% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Ameren during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Ameren during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Ameren during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ameren in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Optiver Holding B.V. grew its stake in shares of Ameren by 78.7% in the fourth quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 470 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company's stock.

Ameren Price Performance

Shares of AEE traded down $0.09 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $98.92. 1,668,642 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,580,285. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $98.49 and a 200-day moving average of $93.20. 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 $69.39 and a one year high of $104.10. The firm has a market cap of $26.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.38, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.45.

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

Ameren Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were paid a $0.71 dividend. This is a boost from Ameren's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.87%. Ameren's dividend payout ratio is 64.25%.

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.