Ameren (NYSE:AEE) Hits New 1-Year High - Should You Buy?

Key Points

• Ameren hit a new 52-week high intraday at $114.41 and is trading near its average analyst price target of $114.92, with mixed analyst coverage (7 Buys, 6 Holds, 1 Sell) and top targets as high as $120.
• The company announced a dividend increase to $0.75 quarterly ($3.00 annualized, 2.6% yield) and reported quarterly EPS of $0.78 (beat by $0.01) and revenue of $1.78 billion (beat estimates but down 8.2% YoY); market cap is about $31.8B with a P/E of 21.5.
• Insider Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares in February, insiders own only 0.42% of the stock, while institutional investors hold roughly 79.09%.

Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report)'s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $114.41 and last traded at $114.9550, with a volume of 39559 shares. The stock had previously closed at $112.86.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AEE. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ameren from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, March 21st. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Ameren in a report on Monday, December 29th. Morgan Stanley set a $116.00 target price on shares of Ameren in a report on Friday, February 20th. KeyCorp cut shares of Ameren from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Ameren from $112.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Seven equities 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ameren has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $114.92.

Ameren Price Performance

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 firm has a market cap of $31.84 billion, a PE ratio of 21.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.52. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $109.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $104.79.

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

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This is an increase from Ameren's previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 10th. Ameren's payout ratio is 56.07%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ameren news, insider Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.60, for a total transaction of $673,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 193,076 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,002,673.60. This trade represents a 3.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ameren

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. World Investment Advisors purchased a new position in Ameren during the fourth quarter valued at $371,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ameren by 16.7% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 48,157 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $4,810,000 after acquiring an additional 6,900 shares in the last quarter. Gunpowder Capital Management LLC dba Oliver Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Ameren during the fourth quarter valued at $72,000. Pure Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ameren during the fourth quarter valued at $284,000. Finally, SG Trading Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Ameren during the fourth quarter valued at $213,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.09% of the company's stock.

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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