Ameren Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:AEE)

Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders bought 2,984 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 2,268% compared to the average volume of 126 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AEE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Ameren from $112.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Ameren from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Ameren from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Argus raised their target price on shares of Ameren from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Ameren from $104.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ameren presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $117.31.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.60, for a total value of $673,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 193,076 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,002,673.60. This trade represents a 3.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ameren

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AEE. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 285.5% in the 3rd quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 266 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Ameren in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Garton & Associates Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ameren in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 6,040.0% in the 2nd quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. now owns 307 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 302 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 6,080.0% in the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 309 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 304 shares in the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ameren Trading Down 0.9%

NYSE AEE opened at $111.15 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.66. The company has a market capitalization of $30.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.52. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $110.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $105.74. Ameren has a one year low of $93.27 and a one year high of $115.53.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.01. Ameren had a net margin of 16.55% and a return on equity of 10.69%. The business had revenue of $1.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.69 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.77 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Ameren will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th were issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. This is an increase from Ameren's previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Ameren's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.07%.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.