Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) receives average brokerage rating of “Hold”.

Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE – Get Free Report ) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the ten analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $80.10.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Ameren from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ameren from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Ameren in a research report on Friday, July 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $87.00 target price on the stock. Barclays raised shares of Ameren from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $73.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Thursday. May 30. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Ameren from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th.

Get the latest stock analysis on Ameren

Ameren trades down 1.1%

Shares of AEE stock opened at $81.65 on Wednesday. Ameren has a 1 year low of $67.03 and a 1 year high of $84.40. The company has a market cap of $21.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.77, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.44. 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 stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $76.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $73.81.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE – Get Free Report ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. Ameren had a net margin of 16.28% and a return on equity of 10.20%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. In the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.90 per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ameren will post 4.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren announces dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 11. This represents a dividend of $2.68 on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.28%. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is currently 61.61%.

Insider trading at Ameren

In other news, Director Rafael Flores sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.29, for a total transaction of $106,935.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,768 shares in the company, valued at $981,520.72. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.42% of the company’s shares.

Institutional investors are weighing on Ameren

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Quarry LP lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 595.5% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,530 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $109,000 after buying an additional 1,310 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning boosted its holdings in Ameren by 9.6% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 76,803 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,461,000 after purchasing an additional 6,757 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in Ameren by 7.9% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 631,606 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $44,914,000 after buying an additional 46,118 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 valued at $177,644,000 after acquiring an additional 1,286,162 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MBB Public Markets I LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ameren in the second quarter worth approximately $1,342,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s shares.

About Ameren

(Get a free report

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 activities of generation, transmission and distribution of electricity regulated by tariffs; and regulated rate natural gas distribution businesses.

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