JPMorgan Chase & Co. Issues Positive Forecast for Ameren (NYSE:AEE) Stock Price

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) had its price objective boosted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $126.00 to $137.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on AEE. Wall Street Zen cut Ameren from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, May 25th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Ameren from $121.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays increased their price objective on Ameren from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Argus raised their target price on shares of Ameren from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $115.00 target price on shares of Ameren in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ameren presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $120.67.

Ameren Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of NYSE:AEE opened at $112.85 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $110.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $108.80. Ameren has a 12-month low of $96.27 and a 12-month high of $118.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.11. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.94% and a net margin of 17.17%.The firm had revenue of $2.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.07 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Ameren has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.250-5.450 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Ameren will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 9th were issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 9th. Ameren’s payout ratio is currently 53.96%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ameren news, SVP Theresa A. Shaw sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.35, for a total transaction of $164,025.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 32,943 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,602,317.05. This represents a 4.36% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ameren

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AEE. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Ameren by 6,051.1% during the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 932,017 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $93,071,000 after buying an additional 916,865 shares during the period. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Ameren in the fourth quarter worth $66,631,000. Aventail Capital Group LP purchased a new stake in Ameren in the fourth quarter worth $66,546,000. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC boosted its holdings in Ameren by 112.0% in the fourth quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC now owns 70,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,990,000 after acquiring an additional 655,199 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in Ameren by 11.5% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 5,377,156 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $591,056,000 after acquiring an additional 553,164 shares in the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.