September 4, 2018 - Zacks Investment Research downgraded shares of Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Wednesday morning.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on BTU. B. Riley upped their price target on Peabody Energy from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 25th. MKM Partners reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $53.00 price target on shares of Peabody Energy in a research report on Wednesday, June 6th. Finally, ValuEngine downgraded Peabody Energy from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Thursday, August 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The company presently has a consensus rating of Buy and a consensus price target of $45.33.

NYSE:BTU opened at $41.31 on Wednesday. Peabody Energy has a twelve month low of $27.84 and a twelve month high of $47.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 2.28 and a quick ratio of 2.01. The company has a market cap of $5.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.65 and a beta of 0.93.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 24th. The coal producer reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.12). Peabody Energy had a return on equity of 24.59% and a net margin of 15.71%. The firm had revenue of $1.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.36 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.18) EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. sell-side analysts forecast that Peabody Energy will post 4.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 1st. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.21%. This is a boost from Peabody Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12.

In other news, EVP Charles F. Meintjes sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.10, for a total transaction of $1,473,500.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 170,910 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,195,311. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider George John Schuller, Jr. sold 12,312 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.13, for a total value of $506,392.56. Following the sale, the insider now owns 55,627 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,287,938.51. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BTU. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Peabody Energy during the 1st quarter worth approximately $178,000. First Quadrant L P CA raised its stake in shares of Peabody Energy by 51.3% during the 2nd quarter. First Quadrant L P CA now owns 3,910 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $178,000 after purchasing an additional 1,325 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in shares of Peabody Energy during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $210,000. Zeke Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Peabody Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at $211,000. Finally, OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp bought a new stake in Peabody Energy in the 1st quarter valued at $226,000. Institutional investors own 99.36% of the company’s stock. 

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