Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) Increases Dividend to $0.75 Per Share

Key Points

• Ameren declared a quarterly dividend of $0.75 per share, payable March 31 to shareholders of record March 10 (ex-dividend March 10), a 5.6% increase from the prior quarterly payout and equal to a $3.00 annual dividend with about a 2.7% yield.
• The dividend appears sustainable: Ameren's payout ratio is roughly 56.6%, analysts forecast about $5.31 in EPS next year (implying a similar ~56.5% payout), and the company has raised its dividend for 12 consecutive years.
• Ameren beat quarterly EPS estimates with $0.78 (vs. $0.77) and reported $1.78 billion in revenue (above estimates) despite revenue falling 8.2% year-over-year; the stock trades at a P/E of about 20.9 and has a market cap near $30.8 billion.

Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of 0.75 per share by the utilities provider on Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. This is a 5.6% increase from Ameren's previous quarterly dividend of $0.71.

Ameren has raised its dividend by an average of 0.1%per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 12 consecutive years. Ameren has a dividend payout ratio of 56.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Ameren to earn $5.31 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 56.5%.

Ameren Price Performance

Shares of AEE opened at $111.55 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.66. Ameren has a one year low of $91.77 and a one year high of $113.64. The stock's fifty day moving average is $105.47 and its 200-day moving average is $103.19.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.69 billion. Ameren had a net margin of 16.55% and a return on equity of 10.69%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.77 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Ameren will post 4.93 EPS for the current year.

About Ameren

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.

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