Investors Purchase High Volume of Ameren Call Options (NYSE:AEE)

Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) saw some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Traders purchased 2,984 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 2,268% compared to the typical volume of 126 call options.

Insider Activity at Ameren

In related news, CFO Michael L. Moehn sold 6,500 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.15, for a total value of $598,975.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 205,171 shares in the company, valued at $18,906,507.65. The trade was a 3.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.36% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ameren

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Ameren by 51.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,064,877 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $93,134,000 after buying an additional 362,772 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ameren by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 331,801 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,019,000 after purchasing an additional 19,217 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in shares of Ameren in the third quarter worth $74,000. Tudor Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Ameren in the third quarter valued at about $463,000. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in Ameren in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $215,000. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AEE has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $77.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Argus raised shares of Ameren to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Ameren from $93.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Ameren from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded shares of Ameren from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $82.00 to $89.00 in a research note on Monday, September 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.89.

Ameren Stock Down 0.2 %

Ameren stock opened at $90.69 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $24.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.34, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.47. Ameren has a fifty-two week low of $67.03 and a fifty-two week high of $95.69. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $90.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $83.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.63.

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be given a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.96%. Ameren’s payout ratio is currently 63.06%.

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.