KeyCorp Has Bullish Forecast for Ameren Q4 Earnings

Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) – Equities researchers at KeyCorp upped their Q4 2024 earnings per share estimates for shares of Ameren in a research report issued on Monday, October 21st. KeyCorp analyst S. Karp now forecasts that the utilities provider will earn $0.71 per share for the quarter, up from their prior estimate of $0.60. The consensus estimate for Ameren’s current full-year earnings is $4.62 per share. KeyCorp also issued estimates for Ameren’s FY2028 earnings at $6.03 EPS.

AEE has been the subject of a number of other reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on Ameren from $77.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Ameren in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $97.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Ameren from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Mizuho raised shares of Ameren from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $82.00 to $89.00 in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Ameren from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ameren has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.80.

Ameren Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE AEE opened at $89.20 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The business’s 50 day moving average is $85.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $77.82. Ameren has a 52-week low of $67.03 and a 52-week high of $89.21. The firm has a market cap of $23.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.18, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.45.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.04. Ameren had a net margin of 16.28% and a return on equity of 10.20%. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. Ameren’s revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ameren

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Ameren by 493.0% during the 1st quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 21,728 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,607,000 after buying an additional 18,064 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ameren by 703.6% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 129,346 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,566,000 after acquiring an additional 113,250 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Ameren by 392.0% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 19,434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,382,000 after purchasing an additional 15,484 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in Ameren by 137.2% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 100,154 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,407,000 after purchasing an additional 57,923 shares during the period. Finally, Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new position in Ameren during the 2nd quarter worth $2,632,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ameren

In related news, EVP Chonda J. Nwamu sold 1,610 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.94, for a total value of $131,923.40. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,640,758.08. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Ameren Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.00%. Ameren’s payout ratio is currently 60.63%.

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.