Ameren (NYSE:AEE) Reaches New 12-Month High After Analyst Upgrade

Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) shares hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday after BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on the stock from $100.00 to $105.00. BMO Capital Markets currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Ameren traded as high as $100.62 and last traded at $98.34, with a volume of 3561331 shares. The stock had previously closed at $98.27.

AEE has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Ameren from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Ameren from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Barclays lowered Ameren from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $88.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ameren presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $92.70.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.27, for a total transaction of $266,901.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 14,495 shares in the company, valued at $1,424,423.65. This represents a 15.78 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ameren

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Versor Investments LP acquired a new position in Ameren in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,417,000. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ameren by 59.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,631,580 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $230,158,000 after purchasing an additional 984,879 shares during the period. Lindenwold Advisors INC purchased a new stake in shares of Ameren during the third quarter worth approximately $1,682,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 51.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,064,877 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $93,134,000 after purchasing an additional 362,772 shares during the period. Finally, HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 265.0% during the third quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC now owns 173,771 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $15,198,000 after purchasing an additional 126,157 shares during the period. 79.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ameren Trading Up 1.3 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.59 billion, a PE ratio of 22.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.49. The business's 50-day moving average is $92.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $88.86.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is a boost from Ameren's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.88%. Ameren's payout ratio is presently 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.