Investors Buy High Volume of Call Options on Ameren (NYSE:AEE)

Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders bought 2,984 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 2,268% compared to the typical volume of 126 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameren

In other news, insider Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.60, for a total value of $673,400.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 193,076 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,002,673.60. This trade represents a 3.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ameren

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AEE. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Ameren by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,645,555 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,559,565,000 after buying an additional 495,945 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Ameren by 2.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,045,845 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,466,105,000 after acquiring an additional 328,401 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Ameren by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,242,392 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $692,794,000 after acquiring an additional 192,808 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of Ameren by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,283,529 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $655,892,000 after acquiring an additional 60,519 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Ameren by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,140,239 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $536,538,000 after purchasing an additional 49,282 shares during the period. 79.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ameren Trading Up 0.6%

NYSE AEE opened at $104.64 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.30 billion, a PE ratio of 20.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.57. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $101.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $101.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49. Ameren has a 12 month low of $91.77 and a 12 month high of $106.73.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $2.17 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10 by $0.07. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.92% and a net margin of 15.75%.The company had revenue of $2.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.87 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 24.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Ameren will post 4.93 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Ameren from $108.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Ameren from $112.00 to $111.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. KeyCorp lowered Ameren from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Ameren from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $116.00 price target on shares of Ameren in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ameren has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $109.60.

Ameren Company Profile

Ameren Corporation (NYSE: AEE) is an integrated energy company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, that provides electric and natural gas delivery and related services in portions of Missouri and Illinois. The company operates regulated utility businesses that serve a broad mix of residential, commercial and industrial customers, and it participates in wholesale energy markets and transmission operations that support reliable service across its service territories.

Ameren’s core activities include generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, distribution of natural gas, and the provision of customer energy solutions such as demand-side management and energy efficiency programs.