Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) Rating Lowered to “Sell” at Wall Street Zen

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report released on Sunday.

BTU has been the subject of several other research reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Peabody Energy in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research raised Peabody Energy from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 2nd. UBS Group upped their price objective on Peabody Energy from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Benchmark raised their target price on Peabody Energy from $23.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $28.33.

Peabody Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BTU opened at $33.77 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. Peabody Energy has a 1-year low of $9.61 and a 1-year high of $35.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.11 billion, a P/E ratio of -116.43 and a beta of 0.41. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $29.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $23.68.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) last issued its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $990.20 million. Peabody Energy had a negative net margin of 0.83% and a negative return on equity of 0.25%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.74 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Peabody Energy will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Peabody Energy

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sourcerock Group LLC acquired a new stake in Peabody Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,092,000. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Peabody Energy by 19.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,208,031 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $123,572,000 after acquiring an additional 1,487,531 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in shares of Peabody Energy in the second quarter valued at approximately $9,039,000. Gate City Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Peabody Energy in the second quarter worth $8,645,000. Finally, RPG Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Peabody Energy during the second quarter worth $8,243,000. 87.44% of the stock is currently owned by 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.