Ameren Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:AEE)

Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) saw unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 2,984 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 2,268% compared to the average volume of 126 call options.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.60, for a total transaction of $673,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 193,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,002,673.60. This trade represents a 3.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ameren

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Gunpowder Capital Management LLC dba Oliver Wealth Management bought a new stake in Ameren in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $72,000. Pure Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ameren in the fourth quarter worth approximately $284,000. SG Trading Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ameren in the fourth quarter worth $213,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Ameren by 40.3% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 31,968 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,192,000 after buying an additional 9,176 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dean Capital Management raised its holdings in Ameren by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Dean Capital Management now owns 25,807 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,577,000 after buying an additional 788 shares during the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ameren Trading Down 1.6%

AEE stock opened at $111.47 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $30.81 billion, a PE ratio of 20.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.66. Ameren has a one year low of $91.77 and a one year high of $113.64. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $105.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $103.10.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.69 billion. Ameren had a net margin of 16.55% and a return on equity of 10.69%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.77 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Ameren will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This is a boost from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.08%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on AEE. Morgan Stanley set a $116.00 price target on Ameren in a report on Friday, February 20th. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Ameren from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Ameren from $111.00 to $104.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Mizuho set a $117.00 price target on shares of Ameren in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ameren currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $113.30.

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.