American Century Companies Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Knife River Corporation $KNF

American Century Companies Inc. cut its position in Knife River Corporation (NYSE:KNF) by 30.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 467,146 shares of the company’s stock after selling 204,190 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 0.82% of Knife River worth $35,910,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Baillie Gifford & Co. acquired a new position in Knife River during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $169,020,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Knife River during the second quarter worth $53,260,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Knife River by 30.1% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 787,736 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,311,000 after buying an additional 182,462 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Knife River by 71.0% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 354,860 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,971,000 after acquiring an additional 147,387 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Knife River by 27.2% during the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 685,911 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,998,000 after purchasing an additional 146,782 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Knife River from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Knife River from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Knife River from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $75.00 to $81.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Zacks Research raised Knife River from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Stephens lifted their price objective on Knife River from $86.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $97.43.

Knife River Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE KNF opened at $80.19 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 2.54 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The company has a market cap of $4.54 billion, a PE ratio of 29.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.27. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $79.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $75.50. Knife River Corporation has a 12 month low of $58.72 and a 12 month high of $103.18.

Knife River (NYSE:KNF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The company reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $755.06 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $726.60 million. Knife River had a return on equity of 10.27% and a net margin of 4.99%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.41 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Knife River Corporation will post 4.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Knife River Company Profile

Knife River Corporation, headquartered in Bismarck, North Dakota, is a leading integrated construction materials and contracting company in the western United States. The company specializes in producing and supplying aggregates, asphalt mix, ready-mixed concrete and other heavy construction materials used in highway, commercial and residential projects.

In addition to material production, Knife River offers a comprehensive suite of contracting services, including heavy civil construction, road building, underground and open-pit mining and logistics support.