Ameren (NYSE:AEE) Upgraded by The Goldman Sachs Group to Neutral Rating

The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Free Report) from a sell rating to a neutral rating in a report issued on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have $100.00 price objective on the utilities provider's stock, up from their previous price objective of $91.00.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on AEE. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Ameren from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Ameren in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Ameren from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $103.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Ameren from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Ameren from $102.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ameren currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $101.64.

Ameren Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:AEE traded down $0.05 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $95.33. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,259,868 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,581,202. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $96.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $95.81. The company has a market capitalization of $25.77 billion, a PE ratio of 21.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.86. Ameren has a fifty-two week low of $70.15 and a fifty-two week high of $104.10.

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

Ameren Dividend Announcement

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ameren

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ameren by 14.4% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 10,174 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $907,000 after buying an additional 1,282 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ameren in the fourth quarter valued at about $19,367,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ameren by 49.4% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 538 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ameren in the first quarter valued at about $204,000. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its holdings in shares of Ameren by 1,732.4% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 3,068,505 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $273,527,000 after buying an additional 2,901,047 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.