Ameren - AEE Stock Forecast, Price & News

Ameren Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a public utility holding company in the United States. It operates through four segments: Ameren Missouri, Ameren Illinois Electric Distribution, Ameren Illinois Natural Gas, and Ameren Transmission. The company engages in the rate-regulated electric generation, transmission, and distribution activities; and rate-regulated natural gas distribution and transmission businesses. It primarily generates electricity through coal, nuclear, and natural gas, as well as renewable sources, such as hydroelectric, wind, methane gas, and solar. The company serves residential, commercial, and industrial customers. Ameren Corporation was founded in 1881 and is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri.

Ameren Stock Performance

Ameren stock traded up $0.59 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $91.89. The company had a trading volume of 1,245,731 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,366,082. The firm has a market cap of $23.73 billion, a PE ratio of 23.56, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.50. Ameren has a one year low of $80.27 and a one year high of $99.20. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $88.83 and a 200 day moving average of $90.11.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.87 by ($0.07). Ameren had a net margin of 14.49% and a return on equity of 10.19%. The company had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.80 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ameren will post 4.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 8th were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 7th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.57%. Ameren's dividend payout ratio is presently 60.51%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Ameren from $99.00 to $91.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 18th. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Ameren from $95.00 to $92.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 8th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Ameren from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their target price for the company from $94.00 to $96.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 30th. Argus raised their target price on shares of Ameren from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Ameren from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 21st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $96.75.

Insider Transactions at Ameren

In other news, insider Mark C. Birk sold 4,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.90, for a total transaction of $375,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 80,541 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,562,799.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider Mark C. Birk sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.90, for a total transaction of $375,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 80,541 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,562,799.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Michael L. Moehn sold 2,630 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.32, for a total transaction of $250,691.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 148,060 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,113,079.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.52% of the company's stock.