Jefferies Financial Group Begins Coverage on Ameren (NYSE:AEE)

Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Ameren (NYSE:AEE) in a report released on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. The firm set a “buy” rating and a $97.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective points to a potential upside of 13.29% from the company’s current price.

AEE has been the topic of a number of other research reports. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Ameren in a research report on Friday, July 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $87.00 price target on the stock. Barclays raised shares of Ameren from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $73.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Ameren from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Ameren from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Ameren from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $85.00.

Ameren Stock Performance

Shares of Ameren stock opened at $85.62 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. Ameren has a twelve month low of $67.03 and a twelve month high of $85.85. The stock has a market cap of $22.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.45. The company’s fifty day moving average is $80.97 and its 200 day moving average is $75.43.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. Ameren had a net margin of 16.28% and a return on equity of 10.20%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ameren will post 4.62 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.94, for a total value of $131,923.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,432 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,640,758.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ameren

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in Ameren by 115.3% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 366 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Ameren in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. increased its stake in Ameren by 117.6% in the 1st quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 370 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Ameren in the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Ameren in the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. Hedge funds and other 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.