交易者在Ameren（纽约证券交易所代码：AEE）上购买大量看涨期权_新浪财经

Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE – Get Rating) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders acquired 2,984 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 2,268% compared to the typical daily volume of 126 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on AEE. Guggenheim lowered shares of Ameren from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their price target for the company from $84.00 to $89.00 in a research note on Monday, January 23rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Ameren from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Ameren from $93.00 to $89.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Ameren from $101.00 to $97.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 17th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $94.90.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Warner L. Baxter sold 50,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.32, for a total transaction of $4,516,000.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 217,893 shares in the company, valued at $19,680,095.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.52% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ameren

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Capital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Ameren by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,211 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $285,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in Ameren by 4.1% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 3,155 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $254,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Ameren by 14.1% in the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 1,019 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $91,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares during the period. Toroso Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Ameren by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Toroso Investments LLC now owns 3,059 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $272,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the period. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Ameren by 23.5% in the second quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 751 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.42% of the company's stock.

Ameren Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AEE opened at $85.50 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $87.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $87.35. Ameren has a 1-year low of $73.28 and a 1-year high of $99.20. The company has a market cap of $22.10 billion, a PE ratio of 20.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.41.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.07. Ameren had a return on equity of 10.50% and a net margin of 13.50%. The firm had revenue of $2.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.15 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.48 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 32.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ameren will post 4.35 EPS for the current year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 14th. This is an increase from Ameren's previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.95%. Ameren's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 57.00%.

About Ameren

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Ameren Corp. is a public utility holding company, which engages in the provision of electric and natural gas services. It operates through the following segments: Ameren Missouri, Ameren Illinois Electric Distribution, Ameren Illinois Natural Gas, Ameren Transmission, and Other. The Ameren Transmission segment consists of the aggregated electric transmission businesses of Ameren Illinois and Ameren Transmission Company of Illinois (ATXI).