Pacer Advisors Inc. Acquires 8,020,670 Shares of Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU)

Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU) by 265,937.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,023,686 shares of the coal producer’s stock after buying an additional 8,020,670 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. owned about 0.06% of Peabody Energy worth $212,949,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Peabody Energy during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $893,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Peabody Energy by 27.5% during the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 314,393 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $8,344,000 after purchasing an additional 67,897 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in Peabody Energy by 12.7% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 98,868 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $2,624,000 after purchasing an additional 11,145 shares during the last quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC raised its position in Peabody Energy by 9.0% in the third quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 18,935 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $503,000 after purchasing an additional 1,566 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royce & Associates LP bought a new position in shares of Peabody Energy during the third quarter worth about $223,000. 87.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on BTU shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Peabody Energy from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Benchmark boosted their price objective on Peabody Energy from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, B. Riley boosted their target price on Peabody Energy from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th.

Insider Transactions at Peabody Energy

In related news, CFO Mark Spurbeck sold 10,000 shares of Peabody Energy stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.52, for a total value of $295,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 65,710 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,939,759.20. This trade represents a 13.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Peabody Energy Stock Up 0.2 %

BTU stock opened at $26.61 on Thursday. Peabody Energy Co. has a twelve month low of $20.21 and a twelve month high of $29.94. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 2.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The firm has a market cap of $3.23 billion, a PE ratio of 7.04 and a beta of 0.98. The business has a 50 day moving average of $25.62 and a 200 day moving average of $23.72.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The coal producer reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.07 billion. Peabody Energy had a return on equity of 14.74% and a net margin of 12.24%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.80 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Peabody Energy Co. will post 3.15 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 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.13%. Peabody Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.94%.

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.