Ameren (NYSE:AEE) Price Target Raised to $88.00 at Barclays

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) had its target price increased by Barclays from $77.00 to $88.00 in a report published on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on AEE. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Ameren in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a buy rating and a $97.00 target price on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Argus raised shares of Ameren to a strong-buy rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Ameren in a report on Friday, July 19th. They issued a buy rating and a $87.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Ameren from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $87.80.

Ameren Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of Ameren stock opened at $87.93 on Tuesday. Ameren has a 1 year low of $67.03 and a 1 year high of $88.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market cap of $23.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.21, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.45. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $84.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $77.20.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. Ameren had a net margin of 16.28% and a return on equity of 10.20%. Ameren’s revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Ameren will post 4.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.05%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is presently 61.61%.

Insider Transactions at Ameren

In related news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,432 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,640,758.08. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ameren

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AEE. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Ameren by 493.0% during the first quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 21,728 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,607,000 after purchasing an additional 18,064 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 703.6% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 129,346 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,566,000 after buying an additional 113,250 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 392.0% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 19,434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,382,000 after buying an additional 15,484 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in shares of Ameren by 137.2% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 100,154 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,407,000 after buying an additional 57,923 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Ameren during the second quarter worth about $2,632,000. 79.09% of the stock is 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.