Ameren (NYSE:AEE) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at HSBC

HSBC started coverage on shares of Ameren (NYSE:AEE) in a report issued on Thursday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $119.10 price objective on the utilities provider’s stock.

AEE has been the topic of a number of other research reports. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Ameren from $119.00 to $113.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Ameren in a research report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating and a $114.00 target price on the stock. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Ameren from $116.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 13th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Ameren from $120.00 to $116.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Ameren from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $116.74.

Ameren Stock Up 2.3%

AEE opened at $108.89 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 0.53 and a quick ratio of 0.37. Ameren has a 12 month low of $96.57 and a 12 month high of $118.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.17, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.44. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $104.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $108.45.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.05. Ameren had a net margin of 17.86% and a return on equity of 10.95%. The company had revenue of $2.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.01 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. Ameren has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.250-5.450 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Ameren will post 5.40 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 8th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 8th. Ameren’s dividend payout ratio is 52.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameren

In other news, SVP Theresa A. Shaw sold 325 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.93, for a total transaction of $35,402.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 32,340 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,522,796.20. This trade represents a 0.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Rafael Flores sold 248 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.53, for a total value of $26,171.44. Following the transaction, the director owned 13,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,465,600.64. This represents a 1.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 7,073 shares of company stock valued at $769,814 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ameren

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Ameren during the second quarter worth $2,918,526,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in shares of Ameren by 11.5% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 5,377,156 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $591,056,000 after acquiring an additional 553,164 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ameren in the second quarter valued at $578,254,000. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 0.7% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,758,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $303,227,000 after acquiring an additional 18,526 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its position in shares of Ameren by 13.6% in the first quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 2,268,081 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $249,307,000 after acquiring an additional 270,937 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

About Ameren

Ameren Corporation is a regulated electric and natural gas utility holding company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Through its operating companies, Ameren Missouri and Ameren Illinois, the company provides electric generation, transmission and distribution services, as well as natural gas distribution.

Ameren serves approximately 2.5 million electric customers and more than 900,000 natural gas customers across Missouri and Illinois. Its operations include a diverse generation portfolio and infrastructure designed to deliver reliable energy to residential, commercial and industrial customers, while supporting the transition toward cleaner energy resources.

Ameren was formed in 1997 through the merger of Union Electric Company and CIPSCO Inc The company is led by Martin J.