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

Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) was the target of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders bought 2,984 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 2,268% compared to the typical daily volume of 126 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ameren

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AEE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Ameren by 68.6% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,080,775 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $425,951,000 after buying an additional 1,661,019 shares during the last quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd raised its stake in Ameren by 104,698.0% during the 3rd quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd now owns 1,370,758 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $143,091,000 after buying an additional 1,369,450 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Ameren by 6,051.1% during the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 932,017 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $93,071,000 after buying an additional 916,865 shares during the last quarter. Homestead Advisers Corp purchased a new stake in Ameren during the 3rd quarter valued at $76,614,000. Finally, Clark Capital Management Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Ameren during the 4th quarter valued at $66,631,000. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ameren Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AEE opened at $109.02 on Thursday. Ameren has a twelve month low of $93.27 and a twelve month high of $115.58. The firm has a market cap of $30.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.61, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a 50 day moving average of $110.77 and a 200 day moving average of $106.04. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.11. Ameren had a net margin of 17.17% and a return on equity of 10.94%. The company had revenue of $2.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.07 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Ameren has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.250-5.450 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Ameren will post 5.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Barclays boosted their target price on Ameren from $104.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of Ameren in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Ameren from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $112.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Mizuho set a $117.00 price objective on shares of Ameren in a report on Friday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $117.31.

About Ameren

Ameren Corporation (NYSE: AEE) is an integrated energy company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, that provides electric and natural gas delivery and related services in portions of Missouri and Illinois. The company operates regulated utility businesses that serve a broad mix of residential, commercial and industrial customers, and it participates in wholesale energy markets and transmission operations that support reliable service across its service territories.

Ameren’s core activities include generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, distribution of natural gas, and the provision of customer energy solutions such as demand-side management and energy efficiency programs.