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

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on AEE shares. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $116.00 price objective on shares of Ameren in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Ameren from $112.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. UBS Group upped 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. Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of Ameren in a report on Monday, April 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $126.00 price objective for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Ameren from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $117.31.

Ameren Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AEE opened at $113.73 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. The stock has a market cap of $31.46 billion, a PE ratio of 21.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.52. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $111.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $105.80. Ameren has a 1-year low of $93.27 and a 1-year high of $115.53.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced 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. Ameren had a net margin of 16.55% and a return on equity of 10.69%. The company had revenue of $1.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.69 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.77 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Ameren will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th were issued a $0.75 dividend. This is a boost from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 10th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.07%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.60, for a total value of $673,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 193,076 shares in the company, valued at $20,002,673.60. This trade represents a 3.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ameren

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Allstate Corp bought a new position in Ameren in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,050,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Ameren by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,787,278 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $186,556,000 after acquiring an additional 79,763 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in Ameren during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,097,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 119.0% during the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 77,315 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,070,000 after acquiring an additional 42,004 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SteelPeak Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ameren during the third quarter worth $3,102,000. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.