Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.71

Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 7th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be paid a dividend of 0.71 per share by the utilities provider on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.93%. This is a positive change from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67.

Ameren has increased its dividend by an average of 6.8% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 11 years. Ameren has a payout ratio of 50.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Ameren to earn $4.93 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.68 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 54.4%.

Ameren Price Performance

Ameren stock opened at $97.09 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $25.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $91.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $87.52. Ameren has a 52 week low of $67.03 and a 52 week high of $97.37.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Activity at Ameren

In related news, CFO Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.15, for a total transaction of $598,975.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 205,171 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,906,507.65. The trade was a 3.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.