Ameren (NYSE:AEE) Reaches New 1-Year High - Here's What Happened

Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $97.99 and last traded at $97.05, with a volume of 1989103 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $97.09.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on AEE. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Ameren from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price target for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays lowered shares of Ameren from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $88.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Ameren from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Ameren from $93.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $92.00.

Ameren Trading Down 0.3 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. The business's 50 day moving average is $91.91 and its 200-day moving average is $88.24. The firm has a market cap of $26.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.49.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) last issued 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 return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 15.52%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Ameren Co. will post 4.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be paid a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.90%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. This is a positive change from Ameren's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Ameren's payout ratio is 63.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ameren news, CFO Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.15, for a total transaction of $598,975.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 205,171 shares in the company, valued at $18,906,507.65. The trade was a 3.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.42% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Ameren

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Ameren by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 27,048,729 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,411,125,000 after purchasing an additional 392,170 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Ameren by 16.7% during the fourth 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 last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 2.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,139,956 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,149,221,000 after acquiring an additional 334,752 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,749,446 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $600,157,000 after acquiring an additional 77,282 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 96.5% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,170,709 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $460,917,000 after acquiring an additional 2,539,129 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company's stock.

Ameren Company Profile

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.