Ameren Co. to Post Q2 2024 Earnings of $0.93 Per Share, Zacks Research Forecasts (NYSE:AEE)

Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE - Free Report) - Research analysts at Zacks Research increased their Q2 2024 EPS estimates for shares of Ameren in a research note issued on Wednesday, April 17th. Zacks Research analyst R. Department now expects that the utilities provider will post earnings per share of $0.93 for the quarter, up from their previous forecast of $0.92. The consensus estimate for Ameren's current full-year earnings is $4.59 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Ameren's Q4 2024 earnings at $0.81 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $1.15 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $1.01 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $4.88 EPS, Q1 2026 earnings at $1.31 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $5.31 EPS.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Ameren from $77.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Ameren from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. StockNews.com cut Ameren from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Ameren in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They set a "sell" rating and a $73.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on Ameren from $74.00 to $73.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $79.40.

Ameren Stock Up 0.8 %

NYSE AEE traded up $0.58 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $72.51. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,005,321 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,778,822. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $71.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $73.49. Ameren has a twelve month low of $67.03 and a twelve month high of $91.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.59, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.44.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.61 by ($0.01). Ameren had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 10.42%. The business had revenue of $1.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.63 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 20.9% compared to the same quarter last year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.70%. This is a boost from Ameren's previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 12th. Ameren's payout ratio is presently 61.33%.

Insider Transactions at Ameren

In other news, CEO Martin J. Lyons sold 7,270 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.70, for a total transaction of $513,989.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 246,434 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,422,883.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Martin J. Lyons sold 7,270 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.70, for a total value of $513,989.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 246,434 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,422,883.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Mark C. Lindgren sold 1,630 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.70, for a total value of $115,241.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 47,883 shares in the company, valued at $3,385,328.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.42% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ameren

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AEE. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Ameren by 100,874.2% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 74,273,572 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $6,604,406,000 after acquiring an additional 74,200,015 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Ameren by 46.1% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 18,337,950 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,326,568,000 after buying an additional 5,790,342 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Ameren by 22.9% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,824,707 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,051,453,000 after buying an additional 2,200,700 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Ameren by 8.0% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,889,994 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,302,326,000 after buying an additional 1,029,187 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Ameren by 7,133.8% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 960,286 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $694,670,000 after buying an additional 947,011 shares in the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.