Ameren Corp (NYSE:AEE) – Equities research analysts at KeyCorp issued their FY2020 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Ameren in a report released on Tuesday, June 4th, Zacks Investment Research reports. KeyCorp analyst S. Karp expects that the utilities provider will post earnings of $3.57 per share for the year. KeyCorp currently has a “Sector Weight” rating on the stock. KeyCorp also issued estimates for Ameren’s FY2021 earnings at $3.92 EPS.
Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Zacks Investment Research downgraded Ameren from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. ValuEngine upgraded Ameren from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $73.00 price target on Ameren and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 22nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. The company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $70.40.
Shares of NYSE:AEE traded up $0.09 on Thursday, hitting $77.45. 1,395,298 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,337,536. Ameren has a 52 week low of $58.27 and a 52 week high of $77.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.59 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The company has a market capitalization of $18.89 billion, a PE ratio of 22.98, a PEG ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.27.
Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.08. Ameren had a return on equity of 11.22% and a net margin of 13.65%. The business had revenue of $1.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.62 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year.
Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc boosted its position in Ameren by 2.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc now owns 27,179,627 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,718,295,000 after purchasing an additional 687,592 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in Ameren by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 17,773,860 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,159,388,000 after purchasing an additional 228,568 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in Ameren by 13.7% in the first quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,290,891 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $315,597,000 after purchasing an additional 518,279 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Ameren by 3.8% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,518,096 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $258,755,000 after purchasing an additional 128,079 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Ameren by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,389,046 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $220,707,000 after purchasing an additional 279,511 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.87% of the company’s stock.
In related news, insider Shawn E. Schukar sold 1,200 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.27, for a total value of $90,324.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Mary P. Heger sold 3,000 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.02, for a total value of $228,060.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 12th will be issued a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 11th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.45%. Ameren’s payout ratio is 56.38%.
About Ameren
Ameren Corporation operates as a public utility holding company in the United States. It operates through four segments: Ameren Missouri, Ameren Illinois Electric Distribution, Ameren Illinois Natural Gas, and Ameren Transmission. The company engages in the rate-regulated electric generation, transmission, and distribution activities; and rate-regulated natural gas distribution and transmission businesses.