Ameren (NYSE:AEE) Price Target Cut to $100.00 by Analysts at Barclays

Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) had its price target lowered by research analysts at Barclays from $104.00 to $100.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "equal weight" rating on the utilities provider's stock. Barclays's price objective would indicate a potential upside of 3.99% from the company's current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Ameren from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $114.00 price target (up from $113.00) on shares of Ameren in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Ameren from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Ameren from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price target for the company from $91.00 to $100.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. Finally, KeyCorp raised shares of Ameren from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $103.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ameren presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $101.27.

Ameren Stock Down 0.1%

NYSE AEE traded down $0.13 on Thursday, hitting $96.16. The stock had a trading volume of 1,155,767 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,577,563. The business's fifty day moving average price is $96.19 and its 200 day moving average price is $96.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.62. Ameren has a 52-week low of $72.33 and a 52-week high of $104.10. The stock has a market cap of $25.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.48.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $2.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.92 billion. Ameren had a net margin of 15.31% and a return on equity of 10.40%. Ameren's quarterly revenue was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ameren will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its position in shares of Ameren by 1,732.4% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 3,068,505 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $273,527,000 after purchasing an additional 2,901,047 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Ameren by 96.5% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,170,709 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $460,917,000 after purchasing an additional 2,539,129 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Ameren by 16.7% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ameren during the 1st quarter worth about $241,496,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Ameren by 5.0% during 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.09% of the company's stock.

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.