Ameren (NYSE:AEE) Coverage Initiated at The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Free Report) in a research note published on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage issued a sell rating and a $73.00 price target on the utilities provider's stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on AEE. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. KeyCorp lowered Ameren from an overweight rating to a sector weight rating in a research report on Friday, December 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Ameren from an overweight rating to a neutral rating in a report on Monday, December 18th. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Ameren from $77.00 to $72.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 18th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ameren from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ameren currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $79.40.

Ameren Trading Down 2.3 %

Ameren stock traded down $1.71 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $72.28. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,457,645 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,837,099. The stock has a market cap of $19.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.44. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $71.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $73.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.43. Ameren has a 12 month low of $67.03 and a 12 month high of $91.18.

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 return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 15.36%. The company had revenue of $1.62 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.63 earnings per share. Ameren's revenue was down 20.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Ameren will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 13th were paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 12th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.71%. This is an increase from Ameren's previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. Ameren's dividend payout ratio is presently 61.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameren

In other news, CEO Martin J. Lyons sold 7,270 shares of the firm's 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 246,434 shares in the company, valued at $17,422,883.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Mark C. Lindgren sold 1,630 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.70, for a total transaction of $115,241.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 47,883 shares in the company, valued at $3,385,328.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Martin J. Lyons sold 7,270 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $17,422,883.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.36% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ameren

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Ameren by 100,874.2% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 74,273,572 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $6,604,406,000 after acquiring an additional 74,200,015 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Ameren by 46.1% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 18,337,950 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,326,568,000 after purchasing an additional 5,790,342 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its stake 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 during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of 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 during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ameren by 7,133.8% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 960,286 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $694,670,000 after buying an additional 947,011 shares during the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ameren Company Profile

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.