Ameren (NYSE:AEE) Given New $87.00 Price Target at BMO Capital Markets

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) had its price target upped by BMO Capital Markets from $84.00 to $87.00 in a report published on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on AEE. Bank of America increased their price target on Ameren from $77.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Ameren in a research report on Friday, July 19th. They issued a buy rating and a $87.00 price objective for the company. Barclays upgraded shares of Ameren from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and upped their price objective for the company from $73.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ameren from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Ameren in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued a sell rating and a $73.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ameren has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $79.20.

Ameren Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of AEE stock traded up $0.11 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $80.31. The company had a trading volume of 1,351,561 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,687,638. The company has a 50 day moving average of $73.89 and a 200 day moving average of $72.68. 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 firm has a market cap of $21.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.44. Ameren has a 1-year low of $67.03 and a 1-year high of $84.40.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 16.28%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Ameren will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.34%. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Mark C. Lindgren sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.53, for a total value of $302,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 43,935 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,318,410.55. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Mark C. Lindgren sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.53, for a total value of $302,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 43,935 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,318,410.55. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Rafael Flores sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.29, for a total value of $106,935.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 13,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $981,520.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ameren

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Edgestream Partners L.P. lifted its stake in Ameren by 181.0% in the 2nd quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 126,289 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,980,000 after purchasing an additional 81,345 shares during the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI acquired a new stake in Ameren in the 2nd quarter valued at about $545,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Ameren by 10.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 979,094 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $69,622,000 after purchasing an additional 91,182 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Ameren by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,954,962 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $139,017,000 after purchasing an additional 123,427 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Advisory Services Inc. lifted its stake in Ameren by 31.4% in the 2nd quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 5,618 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $400,000 after purchasing an additional 1,343 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

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.