Morgan Stanley Issues Positive Forecast for Ameren (NYSE:AEE) Stock Price

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) had its target price lifted by Morgan Stanley from $86.00 to $94.00 in a research note released on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $77.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Argus upgraded Ameren to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Bank of America raised their price target on Ameren from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Ameren from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Mizuho raised shares of Ameren from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $82.00 to $89.00 in a research note on Monday, September 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.89.

Ameren Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of AEE stock opened at $89.84 on Friday. Ameren has a twelve month low of $67.03 and a twelve month high of $95.69. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. The business’s 50 day moving average is $89.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $82.17. The company has a market capitalization of $23.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.48.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be given a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.98%. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameren

In other news, CFO Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 205,171 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,906,507.65. The trade was a 3.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.42% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ameren

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Ameren by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,139,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,149,221,000 after buying an additional 334,752 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Ameren by 1.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,672,164 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $581,661,000 after purchasing an additional 127,287 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in Ameren by 0.9% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,561,994 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $398,992,000 after purchasing an additional 39,300 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 59.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,631,580 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $230,158,000 after purchasing an additional 984,879 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ameren by 106.1% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,498,158 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $177,644,000 after buying an additional 1,286,162 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.