Analysts Set Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) PT at $87.80

Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the thirteen research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $87.80.

AEE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho raised Ameren from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $82.00 to $89.00 in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Ameren from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Ameren from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Ameren from $77.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday.

Ameren Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:AEE traded down $0.42 during trading on Thursday, hitting $88.31. The company had a trading volume of 1,995,269 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,606,604. The stock has a market cap of $23.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.45. Ameren has a one year low of $67.03 and a one year high of $88.90. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $84.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $77.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.45.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.87 billion. Ameren had a net margin of 16.28% and a return on equity of 10.20%. Ameren's revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ameren will post 4.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be given a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.03%. Ameren's dividend payout ratio is 60.63%.

Insider Activity at Ameren

In other news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.94, for a total value of $131,923.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,432 shares in the company, valued at $3,640,758.08. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ameren

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AEE. Kentucky Retirement Systems grew its position in Ameren by 0.6% during the second quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems now owns 20,095 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,429,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Ameren by 1.4% during the second quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 9,803 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $697,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. raised its position in Ameren by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 2,992 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $221,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Concord Wealth Partners grew its holdings in shares of Ameren by 52.8% in the first quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 550 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares during the period. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in Ameren by 115.3% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 366 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares during the period. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.