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

Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Investors bought 2,984 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 2,268% compared to the typical volume of 126 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on AEE. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Ameren from $108.00 to $114.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ameren in a research note on Tuesday. Royal Bank Of Canada raised Ameren to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Ameren from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, Barclays set a $113.00 price target on Ameren in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $109.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.44, for a total value of $659,360.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 198,973 shares in the company, valued at $20,183,821.12. This represents a 3.16% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Alexander Labrunerie & CO. Inc. grew its position in shares of Ameren by 5.4% in the third quarter. Alexander Labrunerie & CO. Inc. now owns 8,542 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $892,000 after purchasing an additional 438 shares during the last quarter. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP boosted its stake in Ameren by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP now owns 34,503 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,601,000 after purchasing an additional 3,507 shares during the period. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. acquired a new stake in Ameren in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $3,914,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. bought a new position in Ameren in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors increased its position in Ameren by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 19,778 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,064,000 after buying an additional 388 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of AEE stock opened at $106.12 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $103.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $100.03. Ameren has a twelve month low of $86.40 and a twelve month high of $106.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.80. The company has a market capitalization of $28.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.32, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.50.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $2.17 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.10 by $0.07. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.38% and a net margin of 14.55%.The company had revenue of $2.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.87 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Ameren has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.250-5.450 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 4.900-5.100 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Ameren will post 4.93 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 9th will be issued a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 9th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.62%.

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.