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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on AEE. Argus lifted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 3rd. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Ameren from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 21st. UBS Group cut shares of Ameren from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $94.00 to $96.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 30th. Mizuho reduced their target price on Ameren from $95.00 to $92.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 8th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on Ameren from $99.00 to $91.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 18th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $96.75.

Ameren Stock Performance

NYSE:AEE traded up $0.03 on Tuesday, hitting $96.02. 1,238,608 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,364,243. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a current ratio of 0.67. The business's fifty day moving average is $88.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $90.39. Ameren has a 12 month low of $80.27 and a 12 month high of $99.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.62, a PEG ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.35.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE - Get Rating) last posted 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 return on equity of 10.19% and a net margin of 14.49%. The firm had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.80 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ameren will post 4.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.46%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 6th. Ameren's payout ratio is currently 60.51%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ameren news, insider Mark C. Birk sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 2nd. The stock was 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 $7,562,799.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, Chairman Warner L. Baxter sold 54,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.19, for a total transaction of $5,032,260.00. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 267,893 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $24,964,948.67. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Mark C. Birk sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.90, for a total transaction of $375,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 80,541 shares in the company, valued at $7,562,799.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 60,630 shares of company stock valued at $5,658,552. Company insiders own 0.52% of the company's stock.