Jefferies Financial Group Initiates Coverage on Ameren (NYSE:AEE)

Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Ameren (NYSE:AEE) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $97.00 price objective on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on AEE. Mizuho upgraded shares of Ameren from a neutral rating to an outperform rating and increased their target price for the stock from $82.00 to $89.00 in a report on Monday. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Ameren in a report on Friday, July 19th. They set a buy rating and a $87.00 price objective on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Ameren from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Ameren from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on Ameren from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $84.00.

Ameren Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE AEE opened at $83.62 on Thursday. Ameren has a 52-week low of $67.03 and a 52-week high of $85.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.22, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.45. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $80.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $75.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.67.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.04. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 16.28%. The business had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. Ameren’s revenue was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Ameren will post 4.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 11th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is currently 61.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameren

In other news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.94, for a total transaction of $131,923.40. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,432 shares in the company, valued at $3,640,758.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Kentucky Retirement Systems grew its holdings in shares of Ameren by 0.6% during the second quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems now owns 20,095 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,429,000 after buying an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its stake in Ameren by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 9,803 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $697,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. grew its stake in Ameren by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 2,992 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $221,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ameren by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 7,414 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $536,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the period. Finally, Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ameren by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 3,051 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $221,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.