Ameren (NYSE:AEE) Lowered to “Equal Weight” Rating by Barclays

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) was downgraded by research analysts at Barclays from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report issued on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. They presently have a $95.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock, up from their previous price target of $88.00. Barclays‘s target price points to a potential upside of 1.87% from the company’s current price.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Evercore ISI upgraded Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $93.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Ameren from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ameren presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $92.00.

Ameren Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE AEE opened at $93.26 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.89 billion, a PE ratio of 21.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.48. Ameren has a one year low of $67.03 and a one year high of $96.74. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $91.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $86.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.63.

Insider Activity

In other Ameren news, CFO Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.15, for a total transaction of $598,975.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 205,171 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,906,507.65. This represents a 3.07 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ameren

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Ameren in the third quarter valued at about $44,000. Mather Group LLC. lifted its stake in Ameren by 86.2% in the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 540 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. boosted its stake in Ameren by 134.5% in the 4th quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 544 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 312 shares during the period. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ameren during the third quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in shares of Ameren during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $56,000. Institutional investors 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.