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

Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) saw unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Traders bought 2,984 call options on the company. This is an increase of 2,268% compared to the typical daily volume of 126 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on AEE. Barclays increased their price target on Ameren from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Ameren from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $94.10.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ameren news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.37, for a total value of $557,535.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,344 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,393,781.28. The trade was a 11.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.79, for a total transaction of $492,275.97. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 57,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,966,471.94. This trade represents a 7.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 12,959 shares of company stock valued at $1,316,712. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ameren

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ameren by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 15,963 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,423,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH bought a new position in Ameren in the 4th quarter worth about $10,901,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in shares of Ameren during the fourth quarter worth approximately $6,729,000. Armis Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ameren during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $239,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Ameren by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 25,055 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,233,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Price Performance

Ameren stock opened at $100.01 on Friday. Ameren has a 12-month low of $69.39 and a 12-month high of $104.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $96.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $91.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.99 billion, a PE ratio of 22.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.48.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.83 by ($0.06). Ameren had a return on equity of 10.34% and a net margin of 15.51%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ameren will post 4.93 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be given a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. This is an increase from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is 64.25%.

Ameren Company Profile

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.