Ameren Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:AEE)

Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors bought 2,984 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 2,268% compared to the average daily volume of 126 call options.

Ameren Trading Up 1.4%

AEE opened at $112.29 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.06 billion, a PE ratio of 20.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.52. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $110.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $105.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.46. Ameren has a 12-month low of $93.27 and a 12-month high of $115.53.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.69 billion. Ameren had a net margin of 16.55% and a return on equity of 10.69%. The firm’s revenue was down 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.77 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Ameren will post 4.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. This is a positive change from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 10th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.07%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on AEE. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ameren in a research note on Monday, December 29th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Ameren from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Mizuho set a $117.00 price target on shares of Ameren in a report on Friday, February 13th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Ameren from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, April 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Ameren from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $115.92.

Insider Activity at Ameren

In related news, insider Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.60, for a total value of $673,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 193,076 shares in the company, valued at $20,002,673.60. This trade represents a 3.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ameren

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ameren by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,645,555 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,559,565,000 after purchasing an additional 495,945 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ameren by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 15,885,476 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,586,324,000 after acquiring an additional 362,052 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Ameren by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,503,721 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,448,342,000 after acquiring an additional 457,876 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ameren by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,283,529 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $655,892,000 after acquiring an additional 60,519 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Ameren by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,290,191 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $528,278,000 after acquiring an additional 149,952 shares during the period. 79.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Ameren

Ameren Corporation (NYSE: AEE) is an integrated energy company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, that provides electric and natural gas delivery and related services in portions of Missouri and Illinois. The company operates regulated utility businesses that serve a broad mix of residential, commercial and industrial customers, and it participates in wholesale energy markets and transmission operations that support reliable service across its service territories.

Ameren’s core activities include generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, distribution of natural gas, and the provision of customer energy solutions such as demand-side management and energy efficiency programs.