Ameren Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:AEE)

Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Traders purchased 2,984 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 2,268% compared to the average daily volume of 126 call options.

Insider Transactions at Ameren

In other news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.37, for a total transaction of $557,535.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 43,344 shares in the company, valued at $4,393,781.28. This represents a 11.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 4,743 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.79, for a total transaction of $492,275.97. Following the sale, 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. Insiders sold a total of 12,959 shares of company stock valued at $1,316,712 in the last quarter. 0.42% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ameren

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Ameren by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 27,048,729 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,411,125,000 after acquiring an additional 392,170 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ameren by 16.7% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 17,038,754 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,518,835,000 after purchasing an additional 2,439,811 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Ameren by 2.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,139,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,149,221,000 after purchasing an additional 334,752 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Ameren by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,749,446 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $600,157,000 after purchasing an additional 77,282 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Ameren by 96.5% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,170,709 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $460,917,000 after purchasing an additional 2,539,129 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AEE opened at $100.01 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $96.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $91.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The stock 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 has a twelve month low of $69.39 and a twelve month high of $104.10.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 earnings per share 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 earned $0.60 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Ameren will post 4.93 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. This is a positive change from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Ameren’s payout ratio is currently 64.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AEE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI upgraded 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 note on Tuesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Ameren from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Ameren from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.10.

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.