Investors Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Ameren (NYSE:AEE)

Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors purchased 2,984 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 2,268% compared to the average daily volume of 126 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AEE has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Ameren from $102.00 to $101.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Ameren in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Ameren from $105.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Evercore ISI raised Ameren from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price target for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Ameren from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $99.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.79, for a total value of $492,275.97. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 57,486 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,966,471.94. This trade represents a 7.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.27, for a total transaction of $266,901.32. Following the transaction, the director now owns 14,495 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,424,423.65. This trade represents a 15.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 12,959 shares of company stock worth $1,316,712 in the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ameren

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AEE. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Ameren in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ameren during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in Ameren in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. ORG Partners LLC boosted its stake in Ameren by 74.5% in the 1st quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 349 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the period. Finally, Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new position in Ameren during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company's stock.

Ameren Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of Ameren stock traded up $1.45 during trading on Friday, hitting $99.54. 2,663,914 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,593,368. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.45. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $98.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $94.18. Ameren has a 1-year low of $69.39 and a 1-year 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 the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $2.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.92 billion. Ameren had a net margin of 15.51% and a return on equity of 10.34%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ameren will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were issued a $0.71 dividend. This is an increase from Ameren's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.85%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 11th. Ameren's dividend payout ratio is 64.25%.

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.