Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) from a strong sell rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Peabody Energy from $34.50 to $36.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Peabody Energy from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Jefferies Financial Group raised 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. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Peabody Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, B. Riley Financial lowered their target price on shares of Peabody Energy from $43.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.63.

Peabody Energy Stock Down 5.5%

BTU stock opened at $30.20 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. Peabody Energy has a fifty-two week low of $11.06 and a fifty-two week high of $41.14. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $34.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.75. The stock has a market cap of $3.68 billion, a PE ratio of -67.11 and a beta of 0.63.

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

Peabody Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 23rd were paid a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 23rd. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Peabody Energy’s payout ratio is currently -66.67%.

Insider Activity at Peabody Energy

In other news, CAO Scott T. Jarboe sold 2,151 shares of Peabody Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.26, for a total value of $73,693.26. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 82,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,819,803.56. The trade was a 2.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Darren Ronald Yeates sold 13,892 shares of Peabody Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.40, for a total transaction of $505,668.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 113,440 shares in the company, valued at $4,129,216. This represents a 10.91% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,135,096 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $449,512,000 after acquiring an additional 1,191,438 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,532,978 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $283,129,000 after acquiring an additional 306,187 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased 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 worth $117,363,000 after acquiring an additional 354,099 shares in the last quarter. Progeny 3 Inc. increased its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 0.5% in the second quarter. Progeny 3 Inc. now owns 3,916,934 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $52,565,000 after acquiring an additional 18,920 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA purchased a new position in shares of Peabody Energy in the fourth quarter worth approximately $90,603,000. 87.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Peabody Energy

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.