Investors Purchase High Volume of Peabody Energy Call Options (NYSE:BTU)

Peabody Energy Corporation (NYSE:BTU) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock traders purchased 9,490 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 43% compared to the average daily volume of 6,616 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BTU has been the topic of a number of research reports. Zacks Research downgraded Peabody Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Peabody Energy from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Peabody Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Peabody Energy from $34.00 to $34.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Peabody Energy from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Peabody Energy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.38.

Peabody Energy Stock Up 3.2%

Shares of Peabody Energy stock opened at $37.43 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -83.17 and a beta of 0.54. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $34.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $30.12. Peabody Energy has a 52-week low of $9.61 and a 52-week high of $41.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.40.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The coal producer reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. Peabody Energy had a negative return on equity of 0.93% and a negative net margin of 1.37%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.25 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Peabody Energy will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Peabody Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 23rd. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Peabody Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -66.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Scott T. Jarboe sold 2,151 shares of Peabody Energy 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 owned 82,306 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,819,803.56. The trade was a 2.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Darren Ronald Yeates sold 13,892 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.40, for a total value of $505,668.80. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 113,440 shares in the company, valued at $4,129,216. The trade was a 10.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.41% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Peabody Energy

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in Peabody Energy by 197.7% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 581,931 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $16,457,000 after acquiring an additional 386,470 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 8.7% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,425,459 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $117,363,000 after purchasing an additional 354,099 shares during the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Peabody Energy in the third quarter worth about $772,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Peabody Energy in the third quarter worth about $1,830,000. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Peabody Energy during the 3rd quarter worth about $8,552,000. 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.