Barclays Lowers Ameren (NYSE:AEE) Price Target to $101.00

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) had its target price lowered by investment analysts at Barclays from $102.00 to $101.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Barclays‘s price target would indicate a potential upside of 4.64% from the company’s current price.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Ameren from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Evercore ISI upgraded Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Ameren from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ameren has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $96.60.

Ameren Stock Up 2.4 %

Shares of NYSE AEE opened at $96.52 on Tuesday. Ameren has a 52-week low of $69.39 and a 52-week high of $104.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.84, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.45. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $98.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $92.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.66.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by ($0.06). Ameren had a net margin of 15.51% and a return on equity of 10.34%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Ameren will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Ameren

In other Ameren news, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.27, for a total value of $266,901.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 14,495 shares in the company, valued at $1,424,423.65. This represents a 15.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.37, for a total transaction of $557,535.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 43,344 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,393,781.28. This represents a 11.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 12,959 shares of company stock worth $1,316,712. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ameren

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in Ameren by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 9,982 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $873,000 after purchasing an additional 439 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 27,087 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,374,000 after buying an additional 270 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ameren by 1.7% in the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 9,110 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $797,000 after buying an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Ameren in the third quarter worth $223,000. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its stake in shares of Ameren by 59.3% during the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 37,534 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,283,000 after purchasing an additional 13,967 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

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.