Investors Buy Large Volume of Ameren Call Options (NYSE:AEE)

Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors bought 2,984 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 2,268% compared to the typical volume of 126 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI raised shares of Ameren from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their target price for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Ameren from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Ameren from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One equities 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $93.40.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.37, for a total value of $557,535.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 43,344 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,393,781.28. This represents a 11.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.27, for a total value of $266,901.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,495 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,424,423.65. This represents a 15.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 12,959 shares of company stock valued at $1,316,712. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Remove Ads

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ameren

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its position in shares of Ameren by 1,732.4% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 3,068,505 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $273,527,000 after purchasing an additional 2,901,047 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Ameren by 96.5% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,170,709 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $460,917,000 after purchasing an additional 2,539,129 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased 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 last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 1,266,051 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ameren by 76.7% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,134,288 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $190,250,000 after purchasing an additional 926,126 shares during the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ameren Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of AEE traded up $1.41 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $98.55. The stock had a trading volume of 2,539,296 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,423,793. Ameren has a 12 month low of $69.39 and a 12 month high of $104.10. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $94.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $90.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The company has a market capitalization of $26.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.48.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Ameren will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. This is a boost from Ameren's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.88%. Ameren's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.