Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the ten research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $79.40.

A number of analysts have recently commented on AEE shares. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Ameren from $74.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Ameren from $77.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ameren from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Ameren from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Ameren in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set a “sell” rating and a $73.00 target price for the company.

Ameren Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of Ameren stock opened at $74.49 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.85 billion, a PE ratio of 17.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.44. Ameren has a 52-week low of $67.03 and a 52-week high of $90.72. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $72.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $73.45.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by ($0.01). Ameren had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 15.36%. The company had revenue of $1.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.63 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 20.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Ameren will post 4.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were given a $0.67 dividend. This is a positive change from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.60%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 12th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is presently 61.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ameren news, CEO Martin J. Lyons sold 7,270 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.70, for a total value of $513,989.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 246,434 shares in the company, valued at $17,422,883.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Martin J. Lyons sold 7,270 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.70, for a total value of $513,989.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 246,434 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,422,883.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Mark C. Lindgren sold 1,630 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.70, for a total transaction of $115,241.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 47,883 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,385,328.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ameren

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AEE. HB Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ameren in the third quarter worth $205,000. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Ameren during the third quarter valued at $25,000. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Ameren by 1.1% during the third quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 21,155 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,583,000 after purchasing an additional 224 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank raised its stake in Ameren by 47.7% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 45,924 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,436,000 after purchasing an additional 14,837 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Ameren by 3.6% during the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 167,478 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,532,000 after purchasing an additional 5,801 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

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.