Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Ameren Call Options (NYSE:AEE)

Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Traders bought 2,984 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 2,268% compared to the average daily volume of 126 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on AEE shares. UBS Group upped their price target on Ameren from $111.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Ameren from $104.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. KeyCorp set a $104.00 price objective on Ameren and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Ameren from $105.00 to $104.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Ameren from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $91.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $105.75.

Ameren Stock Down 0.8%

NYSE AEE opened at $103.51 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $27.99 billion, a PE ratio of 22.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.48. Ameren has a one year low of $85.27 and a one year high of $104.52. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $100.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $98.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.56.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.38% and a net margin of 14.55%.Ameren’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.97 EPS. Ameren has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.850-5.050 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ameren will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 9th were issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 9th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ameren news, SVP Gwendolyn G. Mizell sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.79, for a total value of $101,790.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 9,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $929,240.91. This represents a 9.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its holdings in Ameren by 10.0% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 34,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,434,000 after buying an additional 3,112 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Ameren during the 1st quarter worth $204,000. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Ameren by 61.6% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 22,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,270,000 after buying an additional 8,618 shares in the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Ameren during the 1st quarter worth $897,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Ameren by 5.7% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,825,064 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $283,636,000 after buying an additional 151,808 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

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.