Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) Stock Price Down 3.7% – What’s Next?

Peabody Energy Corporation (NYSE:BTU) fell 3.7% during mid-day trading on Tuesday. The company traded as low as $22.77 and last traded at $22.89. 320,653 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 89% from the average daily volume of 3,005,755 shares. The stock had previously closed at $23.77.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Peabody Energy from $27.00 to $26.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Peabody Energy from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 2nd. Zacks Research raised Peabody Energy from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 28th. B. Riley Financial dropped their price target on shares of Peabody Energy from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Benchmark decreased their price objective on shares of Peabody Energy from $40.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Peabody Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $33.88.

Peabody Energy Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 2.01. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $26.41 and a 200 day moving average of $25.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.77 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.17 and a beta of 0.33.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The coal producer reported ($0.74) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.38) by ($0.36). The firm had revenue of $1 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. Peabody Energy had a negative net margin of 4.56% and a negative return on equity of 5.22%. The business’s revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.23) EPS. Equities analysts predict that Peabody Energy Corporation will post 0.33 EPS for the current year.

Peabody Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $0.0750 per share. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 12th. Peabody Energy’s payout ratio is presently -20.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Peabody Energy

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 387.1% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,556,305 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $35,982,000 after buying an additional 1,236,770 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in Peabody Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $22,393,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Peabody Energy by 331.2% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,211,411 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $39,916,000 after acquiring an additional 930,451 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in Peabody Energy by 1,139.3% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 328,139 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $10,812,000 after acquiring an additional 301,661 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in Peabody Energy by 35.0% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 740,760 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $24,408,000 after acquiring an additional 192,153 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.44% of the company’s stock.

Peabody Energy Company Profile

Peabody Energy Corp. is a global coal producer and supplier of energy and industrial fuels. The company mines, processes and markets thermal coal, which is primarily used for electricity generation, and metallurgical coal, which is used in steelmaking. Peabody also provides coal-trading and logistics services and works with customers to transport products to domestic and international markets.

Peabody operates mines in the United States and Australia, serving electric utilities, steel producers and other industrial customers.