KeyCorp Equities Analysts Cut Earnings Estimates for Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE – Get Rating) – Research analysts at KeyCorp decreased their Q3 2022 EPS estimates for Ameren in a research report issued on Wednesday, May 25th. KeyCorp analyst S. Karp now expects that the utilities provider will earn $1.70 per share for the quarter, down from their previous estimate of $1.73. KeyCorp also issued estimates for Ameren’s Q4 2022 earnings at $0.53 EPS.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on AEE. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Ameren from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 25th. StockNews.com started coverage on Ameren in a research report on Thursday, March 31st. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Ameren from $101.00 to $97.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 23rd. Argus boosted their price objective on Ameren from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Credit Suisse Group assumed coverage on Ameren in a research note on Monday, April 25th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $104.00 price target for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $99.43.

Shares of NYSE:AEE opened at $96.55 on Friday. Ameren has a fifty-two week low of $79.35 and a fifty-two week high of $99.20. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $94.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $89.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.65. The firm has a market cap of $24.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.34.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.61 billion. Ameren had a net margin of 15.04% and a return on equity of 10.33%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.91 EPS.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 8th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 7th. Ameren’s payout ratio is 60.51%.

In related news, Chairman Warner L. Baxter sold 27,345 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.21, for a total transaction of $2,330,067.45. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Richard J. Mark sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.67, for a total value of $562,020.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 50,862 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,764,243.54. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 75,299 shares of company stock worth $6,557,116 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AEE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Ameren by 493.3% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,654,972 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $436,452,000 after acquiring an additional 3,870,393 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ameren by 933.4% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,523,881 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $135,641,000 after buying an additional 1,376,417 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Ameren by 8.0% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,889,994 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,302,326,000 after purchasing an additional 1,029,187 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in Ameren by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 20,753,782 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,847,293,000 after buying an additional 786,490 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Ameren by 46.5% in the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,397,635 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $224,803,000 after buying an additional 761,460 shares in the last quarter. 75.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Ameren (Get Rating)

Ameren Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a public utility holding company in the United States. It operates through four segments: Ameren Missouri, Ameren Illinois Electric Distribution, Ameren Illinois Natural Gas, and Ameren Transmission. The company engages in the rate-regulated electric generation, transmission, and distribution activities; and rate-regulated natural gas distribution and transmission businesses.

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