Investors Purchase 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 traders bought 2,984 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 2,268% compared to the average volume of 126 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI upgraded Ameren from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. UBS Group upped their price target on Ameren from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Ameren from $102.00 to $101.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Ameren from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ameren presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $99.22.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of the firm'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 transaction of $266,901.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director now 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 transaction 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 company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.79, for a total transaction of $492,275.97. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 57,486 shares in the company, 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. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 12,959 shares of company stock valued at $1,316,712. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ameren

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its stake in 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 buying an additional 2,901,047 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake 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. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings 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 worth $1,518,835,000 after purchasing an additional 2,439,811 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in Ameren by 116.0% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,357,876 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $210,181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,266,051 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in 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 in the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ameren Stock Performance

NYSE:AEE traded up $2.69 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $99.17. The stock had a trading volume of 2,168,659 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,587,374. Ameren has a 52 week low of $69.39 and a 52 week high of $104.10. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $26.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $98.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $93.56.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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 net margin of 15.51% and a return on equity of 10.34%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Ameren will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.86%. This is a positive change from Ameren's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 11th. 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.