Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Ameren (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 represents an increase of 2,268% compared to the average daily volume of 126 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AEE has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Ameren from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Ameren from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Argus upgraded shares of Ameren to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Ameren from $112.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $113.30.

Insider Activity at Ameren

In other news, insider Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.60, for a total value of $673,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 193,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,002,673.60. This represents a 3.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ameren

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AEE. CreativeOne Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Ameren by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 7,448 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $777,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the period. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ameren by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 7,105 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $682,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Kentucky Trust Co lifted its stake in shares of Ameren by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 14,759 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,474,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Segment Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ameren by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Segment Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,941 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $307,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Keb Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ameren by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Keb Asset Management LLC now owns 12,568 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,312,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Price Performance

Ameren stock opened at $110.73 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $107.22 and its 200 day moving average is $103.76. Ameren has a one year low of $91.77 and a one year high of $113.93. The firm has a market cap of $30.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.46.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.69 billion. Ameren had a net margin of 16.55% and a return on equity of 10.69%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.77 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Ameren will post 4.93 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. This is a boost from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.07%.

About Ameren

Ameren Corporation (NYSE: AEE) is an integrated energy company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, that provides electric and natural gas delivery and related services in portions of Missouri and Illinois. The company operates regulated utility businesses that serve a broad mix of residential, commercial and industrial customers, and it participates in wholesale energy markets and transmission operations that support reliable service across its service territories.

Ameren’s core activities include generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, distribution of natural gas, and the provision of customer energy solutions such as demand-side management and energy efficiency programs.