Brokerages Set Knife River Corporation (NYSE:KNF) Price Target at $85.86

Shares of Knife River Corporation (NYSE:KNF) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the eleven analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation, five have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $84.2857.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on Knife River from $107.00 to $103.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Knife River from $73.00 to $62.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 9th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Knife River in a research report on Monday, August 24th. Stephens set a $80.00 price target on Knife River in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of Knife River in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $95.00 price objective for the company.

Knife River Stock Performance

Shares of KNF stock opened at $56.63 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $69.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $78.01. Knife River has a 52 week low of $55.27 and a 52 week high of $96.28. The company has a current ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The company has a market cap of $3.21 billion, a PE ratio of 23.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.38.

Knife River (NYSE:KNF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by ($0.36). Knife River had a return on equity of 8.73% and a net margin of 4.23%.The business had revenue of $938.57 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $931.39 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.89 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Knife River will post 2.86 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in KNF. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Knife River by 5.2% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,464,690 shares of the company’s stock valued at $119,579,000 after purchasing an additional 73,028 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Knife River by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,417,408 shares of the company’s stock worth $99,730,000 after buying an additional 9,125 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors bought a new stake in shares of Knife River during the 4th quarter valued at about $71,166,000. Voss Capital LP raised its stake in Knife River by 61.4% during the fourth quarter. Voss Capital LP now owns 710,048 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,952,000 after acquiring an additional 270,048 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Knife River in the fourth quarter worth about $32,753,000. 80.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Knife River

Knife River Corporation is a construction materials and contracting company that produces and supplies essential materials for public and private infrastructure projects. Its principal products include construction aggregates, ready-mix concrete and asphalt, along with related paving and contracting services.

The company operates an integrated network of quarries, sand and gravel sites, asphalt and concrete plants, and construction operations. Its services support highways, bridges, airports, commercial developments, residential projects and other infrastructure improvements.