Ameren Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:AEE)

Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) was the target of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 2,984 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 2,268% compared to the typical daily volume of 126 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ameren news, Director Rafael Flores sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.29, for a total value of $106,935.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 13,768 shares in the company, valued at approximately $981,520.72. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Ameren news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,432 shares in the company, valued at $3,640,758.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Rafael Flores sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.29, for a total transaction of $106,935.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,768 shares in the company, valued at $981,520.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Ameren by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,092,435 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,447,516,000 after buying an additional 802,714 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Ameren by 25.0% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 22,931,588 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,696,022,000 after purchasing an additional 4,593,638 shares during the last quarter. Putnam Investments LLC lifted its position in Ameren by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 5,112,645 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $369,849,000 after purchasing an additional 156,733 shares during the period. Zimmer Partners LP boosted its holdings in Ameren by 204.3% in the first quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 3,827,897 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $283,111,000 after purchasing an additional 2,569,897 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in Ameren by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,877,721 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $212,836,000 after purchasing an additional 23,967 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on AEE shares. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Ameren in a research report on Friday, July 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $87.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Ameren from $74.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded Ameren from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Ameren from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Barclays raised shares of Ameren from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $73.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ameren has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $81.00.

Ameren Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AEE opened at $83.81 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market cap of $22.35 billion, a PE ratio of 19.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.45. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $77.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $74.35. Ameren has a one year low of $67.03 and a one year high of $84.51.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.04. Ameren had a net margin of 16.28% and a return on equity of 10.20%. The business had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Ameren will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

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

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.