Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) Shares Up 6.2% Following Analyst Upgrade

Peabody Energy Corporation (NYSE:BTU)’s stock price traded up 6.2% during trading on Monday after Wall Street Zen upgraded the stock from a sell rating to a hold rating. The company traded as high as $28.70 and last traded at $29.1150. 731,704 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 85% from the average session volume of 4,882,286 shares. The stock had previously closed at $27.42.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Zacks Research lowered Peabody Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday. Benchmark upped their price target on shares of Peabody Energy from $23.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Peabody Energy from $17.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. B. Riley upped their price target on shares of Peabody Energy from $18.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Peabody Energy in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Four 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $27.00.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Peabody Energy

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Peabody Energy by 21.8% during the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,716 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 487 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Peabody Energy by 17.0% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,548 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $121,000 after buying an additional 662 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 1.0% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 72,693 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $985,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 48.5% in the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,353 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 768 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Byrne Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 27.2% in the second quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 4,129 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 884 shares during the last quarter. 87.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Peabody Energy Trading Up 5.1%

The company has a market capitalization of $3.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.04 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $24.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $18.21. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 2.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) last issued its quarterly 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 analyst estimates of $990.20 million. Peabody Energy had a net margin of 3.43% and a return on equity of 4.41%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.74 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Peabody Energy Corporation will post 2.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Peabody Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 13th will be given a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 13th. Peabody Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -103.45%.

About Peabody Energy

Peabody Energy Corporation engages in coal mining business in the United States, Japan, Taiwan, Australia, India, Brazil, Belgium, Chile, France, Indonesia, China, Vietnam, South Korea, Germany, and internationally. The company operates through Seaborne Thermal, Seaborne Metallurgical, Powder River Basin, Other U.S.