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

Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors acquired 2,984 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 2,268% compared to the average daily volume of 126 call options.

Ameren Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AEE opened at $96.63 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $25.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.49. Ameren has a 1-year low of $67.03 and a 1-year high of $97.29. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $91.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $87.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.41.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AEE. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Ameren from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Barclays downgraded Ameren from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $88.00 to $95.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Ameren from $93.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $92.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.15, for a total value of $598,975.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 205,171 shares in the company, valued at $18,906,507.65. The trade was a 3.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.36% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Ameren during the second quarter valued at about $2,228,000. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Ameren by 19.8% during the third quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 3,684 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $322,000 after purchasing an additional 609 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank raised its stake in Ameren by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 54,353 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,754,000 after purchasing an additional 3,537 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Ameren by 31.8% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,835 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $510,000 after purchasing an additional 1,408 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its stake in Ameren by 11.4% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 12,851 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,124,000 after purchasing an additional 1,319 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.