Ameren (NYSE:AEE) Price Target Lowered to $108.00 at Morgan Stanley

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley lowered Ameren’s price target from $114 to $108 while maintaining an “equal weight” rating, implying 4.83% potential upside from the prior close.
• Analyst sentiment remains generally positive: Ameren has an overall “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $120.92, despite differing views from other firms.
• Ameren exceeded quarterly EPS expectations, reporting $1.13 versus the $1.08 consensus, though revenue fell 5.8% year over year to $2.09 billion; institutional investors own 79.09% of the stock.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) had its price objective dropped by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $114.00 to $108.00 in a research report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "equal weight" rating on the utilities provider's stock. Morgan Stanley's price objective points to a potential upside of 4.83% from the stock's previous close.

AEE has been the topic of a number of other research reports. KeyCorp upgraded Ameren from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $122.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Ameren from $126.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Wall Street Zen cut Ameren from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Ameren from $124.00 to $120.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Ameren in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $120.92.

Ameren Stock Performance

NYSE:AEE opened at $103.03 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.53. The firm has a market cap of $28.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.16, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. Ameren has a 52-week low of $96.57 and a 52-week high of $118.32. The business's fifty day moving average is $108.56 and its 200 day moving average is $109.87.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $2.09 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.27 billion. Ameren had a net margin of 17.86% and a return on equity of 10.95%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.01 earnings per share. Ameren has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.250-5.450 EPS. Research analysts predict that Ameren will post 5.4 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Theresa Shaw sold 325 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.93, for a total value of $35,402.25. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 32,340 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,522,796.20. This trade represents a 0.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Rafael Flores sold 248 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.53, for a total transaction of $26,171.44. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 13,888 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,465,600.64. This trade represents a 1.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 7,073 shares of company stock valued at $769,814 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ameren

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ameren in the second quarter valued at about $2,918,526,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ameren by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 15,885,476 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,586,324,000 after buying an additional 362,052 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in shares of Ameren by 11.5% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 5,377,156 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $591,056,000 after buying an additional 553,164 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new position in Ameren in the second quarter worth about $578,254,000. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in Ameren by 0.7% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,758,605 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $303,227,000 after purchasing an additional 18,526 shares during the period. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Ameren

Ameren Corporation NYSE: AEE is a regulated electric and natural gas utility holding company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Through its operating companies, Ameren provides energy generation, transmission, distribution and related services to customers in Missouri and Illinois.

Ameren Missouri operates an integrated electric utility serving communities across Missouri and also provides natural gas distribution services in parts of the state. Ameren Illinois operates electric and natural gas distribution businesses serving customers throughout much of Illinois.

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