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

Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors acquired 2,984 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 2,268% compared to the average daily volume of 126 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on AEE. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Ameren from $104.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada raised Ameren to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Ameren in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Ameren from $108.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Ameren in a research report on Monday, October 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $112.00 price objective on the stock. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ameren has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $109.50.

Insider Activity at Ameren

In other Ameren news, SVP Gwendolyn G. Mizell sold 1,000 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.79, for a total value of $101,790.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 9,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $929,240.91. The trade was a 9.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.44, for a total value of $659,360.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 198,973 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,183,821.12. This trade represents a 3.16% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ameren

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Ameren in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $241,496,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Ameren by 68.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,080,775 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $425,951,000 after purchasing an additional 1,661,019 shares during the period. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd grew its holdings in Ameren by 104,698.0% during the third quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd now owns 1,370,758 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $143,091,000 after purchasing an additional 1,369,450 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Ameren by 5.0% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 28,404,577 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,851,821,000 after purchasing an additional 1,355,848 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Ameren by 3.7% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,582,578 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,417,351,000 after purchasing an additional 1,268,457 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Price Performance

Shares of AEE opened at $104.61 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market cap of $28.30 billion, a PE ratio of 22.99, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.50. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $102.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $99.66. Ameren has a twelve month low of $86.40 and a twelve month high of $106.73.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $2.17 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.10 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $2.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.64 billion. Ameren had a net margin of 14.55% and a return on equity of 10.38%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.87 earnings per share. Ameren has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.250-5.450 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 4.900-5.100 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Ameren will post 4.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 9th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.62%.

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.