Ameren (NYSE:AEE) Price Target Increased to $85.00 by Analysts at Morgan Stanley

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) had its price target raised by Morgan Stanley from $81.00 to $85.00 in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the company. Bank of America increased their target price on Ameren from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Ameren from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Mizuho raised shares of Ameren from a neutral rating to an outperform rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $82.00 to $89.00 in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Barclays upgraded shares of Ameren from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and increased their target price for the company from $73.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, UBS Group initiated 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $85.33.

Ameren Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:AEE opened at $86.49 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $82.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $75.88. Ameren has a 1 year low of $67.03 and a 1 year high of $87.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.45.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last posted 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 business had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. Ameren had a net margin of 16.28% and a return on equity of 10.20%. The company’s revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Ameren will post 4.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 11th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.10%. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is currently 61.61%.

Insider Activity at Ameren

In other Ameren news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.94, for a total transaction of $131,923.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,640,758.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 493.0% in the 1st quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 21,728 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,607,000 after acquiring an additional 18,064 shares during the last quarter. Putnam Investments LLC lifted its stake in Ameren by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 5,112,645 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $369,849,000 after purchasing an additional 156,733 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of Ameren by 703.6% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 129,346 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,566,000 after buying an additional 113,250 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Ameren by 392.0% in the second 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 in the last quarter. Finally, APG Asset Management US Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ameren in the 4th quarter valued at $3,912,000. 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.