Ameren (NYSE:AEE) PT Raised to $85.00 at Morgan Stanley

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) had its price objective hoisted by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $81.00 to $85.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price would indicate a potential downside of 1.23% from the company’s current price.

AEE has been the subject of a number of other reports. Argus raised shares of Ameren to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Ameren from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Barclays raised Ameren from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $73.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Mizuho raised Ameren from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $82.00 to $89.00 in a research report on Monday, September 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.33.

Ameren Price Performance

Ameren stock opened at $86.06 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market cap of $22.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.45. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $81.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $75.72. Ameren has a 1 year low of $67.03 and a 1 year high of $87.10.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 16.28%. Ameren’s quarterly revenue was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Ameren will post 4.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Ameren

In other Ameren news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.94, for a total transaction of $131,923.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,640,758.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Ameren by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,092,435 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,447,516,000 after buying an additional 802,714 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Ameren by 25.0% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 22,931,588 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,696,022,000 after acquiring an additional 4,593,638 shares during the period. Putnam Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ameren by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 5,112,645 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $369,849,000 after purchasing an additional 156,733 shares during the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP lifted its position in Ameren by 204.3% during the first quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 3,827,897 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $283,111,000 after purchasing an additional 2,569,897 shares during the period. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Ameren by 0.8% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,877,721 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $212,836,000 after purchasing an additional 23,967 shares during the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.