Peabody Energy Corporation (NYSE:BTU) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Peabody Energy Corporation (NYSE:BTU) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the five ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $28.3333.

BTU has been the subject of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Peabody Energy in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research downgraded Peabody Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. B. Riley raised their price objective on shares of Peabody Energy from $18.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 9th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Peabody Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Peabody Energy from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ieq Capital LLC lifted its stake in Peabody Energy by 10.0% in the first quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 44,000 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $596,000 after buying an additional 4,000 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new position in shares of Peabody Energy in the 1st quarter valued at $4,478,000. Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Peabody Energy in the 1st quarter valued at $191,000. Evergreen Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Peabody Energy during the 1st quarter worth $589,000. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Peabody Energy during the 1st quarter worth $1,727,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.44% of the company’s stock.

Peabody Energy Trading Up 0.0%

NYSE BTU opened at $30.68 on Tuesday. Peabody Energy has a 52 week low of $9.61 and a 52 week high of $35.99. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $28.82 and a two-hundred day moving average of $23.20. The company has a quick ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.73 billion, a PE ratio of -105.80 and a beta of 0.41.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The coal producer reported ($0.58) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.19) by ($0.39). The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $990.20 million. Peabody Energy had a negative return on equity of 0.25% and a negative net margin of 0.83%.Peabody Energy’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.74 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Peabody Energy will post 2.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Peabody Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 13th were given a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 13th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Peabody Energy’s payout ratio is -103.45%.

Peabody Energy Company Profile

Peabody Energy Corporation is one of the world’s largest private-sector coal companies, engaged primarily in the production and sale of metallurgical and thermal coal. The company’s operations span surface and underground mines, serving utilities, steel mills and other industrial customers that rely on coal as an essential component in power generation and steelmaking. Peabody’s product portfolio includes high-energy thermal coal for electricity generation and low-volatile metallurgical coal used in steel production, reflecting its diverse end-market reach.

Founded in 1883, Peabody Energy has grown from a regional mining concern into a global energy supplier.