Ameren Co. (AEE) To Go Ex-Dividend on March 11th

Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 7th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be given a dividend of 0.71 per share by the utilities provider on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. This is a 6.0% increase from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67.

Ameren has increased its dividend by an average of 6.8% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 12 consecutive years. Ameren has a payout ratio of 53.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Ameren to earn $5.31 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.84 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 53.5%.

Ameren Stock Performance

AEE opened at $98.55 on Friday. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $94.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $90.34. Ameren has a 1 year low of $69.39 and a 1 year high of $104.10. The stock has a market cap of $26.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.48.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ameren news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.37, for a total transaction of $557,535.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,344 shares in the company, valued at $4,393,781.28. This trade represents a 11.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.27, for a total transaction of $266,901.32. Following the sale, the director now owns 14,495 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,424,423.65. This represents a 15.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 12,959 shares of company stock worth $1,316,712. Insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Ameren from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Ameren from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $89.00 to $104.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. One equities research 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $93.40.

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.