Jefferies Financial Group Increases Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) Price Target to $44.00

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) had its price objective boosted by investment analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $42.00 to $44.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the coal producer’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective points to a potential upside of 19.41% from the stock’s current price.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Benchmark boosted their price target on shares of Peabody Energy from $23.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Peabody Energy from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 2nd. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Peabody Energy from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Peabody Energy from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Peabody Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, January 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Peabody Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $32.25.

Peabody Energy Stock Up 1.3%

NYSE:BTU traded up $0.49 on Tuesday, hitting $36.85. The stock had a trading volume of 1,650,918 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,128,103. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $29.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $24.68. The stock has a market cap of $4.48 billion, a P/E ratio of -126.48 and a beta of 0.41. Peabody Energy has a 1 year low of $9.61 and a 1 year high of $37.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a current ratio of 1.99.

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

Insider Activity at Peabody Energy

In other news, CAO Scott T. Jarboe sold 2,151 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.26, for a total transaction of $73,693.26. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 82,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,819,803.56. This represents a 2.55% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.41% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BTU. Sourcerock Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Peabody Energy during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,092,000. State Street Corp raised its position in Peabody Energy by 19.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,208,031 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $123,572,000 after purchasing an additional 1,487,531 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new position in Peabody Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at about $9,039,000. Gate City Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Peabody Energy during the second quarter valued at approximately $8,645,000. Finally, RPG Investment Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Peabody Energy in the 2nd quarter worth $8,243,000. 87.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.