Brokerages Set Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) PT at $101.80

Shares of Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the thirteen analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $101.64.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Ameren from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Ameren from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $91.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Wednesday. KeyCorp raised shares of Ameren from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $103.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Ameren from $101.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Ameren from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th.

Ameren Price Performance

NYSE AEE traded down $0.05 on Tuesday, reaching $95.33. 2,210,901 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,778,322. Ameren has a 12 month low of $70.15 and a 12 month high of $104.10. The company has a market cap of $25.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.49. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $96.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $95.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.01). Ameren had a return on equity of 10.40% and a net margin of 15.31%. The business had revenue of $2.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. Ameren's revenue was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Ameren will post 4.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 10th will be paid a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 10th. Ameren's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.97%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AEE. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ameren by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,314,121 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,445,138,000 after purchasing an additional 979,928 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Ameren by 5.0% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 28,404,577 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,851,821,000 after purchasing an additional 1,355,848 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Ameren by 16.7% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 17,038,754 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,518,835,000 after purchasing an additional 2,439,811 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Ameren by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,749,446 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $600,157,000 after purchasing an additional 77,282 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ameren by 96.5% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,170,709 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $460,917,000 after buying an additional 2,539,129 shares during the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is 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.