Ameren (NYSE:AEE) Raised to “Outperform” at Mizuho

Mizuho upgraded shares of Ameren (NYSE:AEE) from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a report published on Monday morning, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has $89.00 price objective on the utilities provider’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $82.00.

AEE has been the subject of several other research reports. UBS Group began coverage on Ameren in a research note on Friday, July 19th. They set a buy rating and a $87.00 price target for the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price 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. 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 report on Thursday, August 29th. Barclays raised shares of Ameren from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $73.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Ameren from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $84.00.

Ameren Stock Down 1.2 %

AEE stock opened at $83.62 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $80.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $75.34. Ameren has a 52 week low of $67.03 and a 52 week high of $85.83. The company has a market cap of $22.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.45.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.04. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 16.28%. The business had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Ameren will post 4.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 11th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.61%.

Insider Transactions at Ameren

In other Ameren news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.94, for a total value of $131,923.40. Following the completion of 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 can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ameren

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AEE. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Ameren by 25.0% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 22,931,588 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,696,022,000 after purchasing an additional 4,593,638 shares during the period. Zimmer Partners LP boosted its position in shares of Ameren by 204.3% in the first quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 3,827,897 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $283,111,000 after buying an additional 2,569,897 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ameren by 106.1% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,498,158 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $177,644,000 after buying an additional 1,286,162 shares during the period. Cohen & Steers Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ameren in the fourth quarter valued at about $60,445,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ameren by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,092,435 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,447,516,000 after buying an additional 802,714 shares during the period. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.