Ameren (NYSE:AEE) Sets New 52-Week High at $85.80

Shares of Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $85.80 and last traded at $85.64, with a volume of 266429 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $83.99.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays raised shares of Ameren from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $73.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Ameren from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Mizuho raised shares of Ameren from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $82.00 to $89.00 in a research note on Monday. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Ameren from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, UBS Group started coverage on shares of Ameren in a research note on Friday, July 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $87.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $82.70.

Ameren Stock Up 1.9 %

The business has a fifty day moving average of $79.70 and a 200-day moving average of $75.02. The stock has a market cap of $22.82 billion, a PE ratio of 19.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 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 results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 16.28%. The business’s revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ameren Co. will post 4.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be given a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 11th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.13%. Ameren’s payout ratio is presently 61.61%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of the company’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 directly owns 44,432 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,640,758.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ameren

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Ameren by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 898,638 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $65,007,000 after buying an additional 12,431 shares during the last quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Ameren by 493.0% during 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 period. Putnam Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ameren by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 5,112,645 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $369,849,000 after purchasing an additional 156,733 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 113,250 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Ameren by 392.0% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 19,434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,382,000 after buying an additional 15,484 shares during the period. 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.