Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Ameren (NYSE:AEE)

Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors acquired 2,984 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 2,268% compared to the average daily volume of 126 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AEE has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Ameren from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Barclays upped their price target 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. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Ameren from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price target for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Ameren from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $96.70.

Insider Transactions at Ameren

In related news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 57,486 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,966,471.94. The trade was a 7.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 12,959 shares of company stock valued at $1,316,712. Company insiders own 0.42% of the company's stock.

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Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ameren

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its holdings in Ameren by 14.4% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 10,174 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $907,000 after purchasing an additional 1,282 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 984,879 shares in the last quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC bought a new position in shares of Ameren in the third quarter valued at $1,682,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Ameren by 51.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,064,877 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $93,134,000 after buying an additional 362,772 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ameren by 265.0% in the third quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC now owns 173,771 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $15,198,000 after buying an additional 126,157 shares in the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ameren Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of AEE traded down $1.09 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $98.89. 3,577,161 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,438,775. Ameren has a fifty-two week low of $69.39 and a fifty-two week high of $104.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.44. The business has a 50-day moving average of $96.93 and a 200-day moving average of $91.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.48.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.83 by ($0.06). Ameren had a return on equity of 10.34% and a net margin of 15.51%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.60 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Ameren will post 4.93 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be issued a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.87%. This is a boost from Ameren's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. Ameren's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.25%.

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.