Ameren (NYSE:AEE) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Argus Analyst Says

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) had its price objective increased by investment analysts at Argus from $108.00 to $115.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Argus’ target price indicates a potential upside of 6.82% from the company’s previous close.

Several other analysts also recently commented on AEE. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Ameren from $112.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Ameren from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Ameren from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. KeyCorp cut Ameren from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Mizuho set a $117.00 price target on Ameren in a report on Friday, February 13th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ameren currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $113.45.

Ameren Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE:AEE opened at $107.65 on Monday. Ameren has a 1-year low of $91.77 and a 1-year high of $113.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The stock has a market cap of $29.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.56. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $107.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $103.99.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.01. Ameren had a net margin of 16.55% and a return on equity of 10.69%. The company had revenue of $1.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.69 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.77 earnings per share. Ameren’s quarterly revenue was down 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Ameren will post 4.93 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Ameren

In other Ameren news, insider Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.60, for a total transaction of $673,400.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 193,076 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,002,673.60. The trade was a 3.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ameren

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Ameren by 22.9% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 8,077 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $811,000 after buying an additional 1,503 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 19.8% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 6,255 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $628,000 after acquiring an additional 1,034 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 42.2% during the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 22,802 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,289,000 after acquiring an additional 6,772 shares during the period. Prudential PLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ameren during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $404,000. Finally, Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Ameren by 8.6% in the 2nd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 817,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $78,542,000 after acquiring an additional 65,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

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.