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

Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 7th,RTT News reports. Stockholders 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 dividend 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% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 Trading Up 0.4 %

AEE opened at $97.09 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $25.92 billion, a PE ratio of 22.84, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. Ameren has a twelve month low of $67.03 and a twelve month high of $97.37. The company has a fifty day moving average of $91.43 and a 200-day moving average of $87.52.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on AEE shares. Morgan Stanley lifted 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. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Ameren from $93.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Evercore ISI upgraded Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $89.00 to $104.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Barclays lowered shares of Ameren from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $88.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ameren presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $92.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameren

In other news, CFO Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.15, for a total value of $598,975.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 205,171 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,906,507.65. This represents a 3.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.42% 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.