Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) Trading Down 5.6% – What’s Next?

Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU) traded down 5.6% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $25.82 and last traded at $25.88. 2,713,423 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 9% from the average session volume of 2,973,880 shares. The stock had previously closed at $27.41.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on BTU. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Peabody Energy from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. B. Riley lifted their target price on shares of Peabody Energy from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Benchmark increased their price target on shares of Peabody Energy from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st.

Peabody Energy Price Performance

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $26.00 and a 200 day moving average of $23.86. The company has a market capitalization of $2.95 billion, a PE ratio of 6.42 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 2.32 and a quick ratio of 1.75.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The coal producer reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.07 billion. Peabody Energy had a net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 14.74%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.80 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Peabody Energy Co. will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Peabody Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.24%. Peabody Energy’s payout ratio is 7.94%.

Insider Transactions at Peabody Energy

In other Peabody Energy news, CFO Mark Spurbeck sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.52, for a total transaction of $295,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 65,710 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,939,759.20. This represents a 13.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BTU. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Peabody Energy by 265,937.3% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 8,023,686 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $212,949,000 after acquiring an additional 8,020,670 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its stake in shares of Peabody Energy by 9.2% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 7,348,251 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $178,118,000 after acquiring an additional 618,395 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Peabody Energy by 7.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,631,707 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $202,546,000 after acquiring an additional 540,219 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in Peabody Energy by 20.2% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,165,258 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $70,016,000 after purchasing an additional 531,440 shares during the period. Finally, Yaupon Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Peabody Energy during the third quarter valued at approximately $8,484,000. Institutional investors own 87.44% of the company’s stock.

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.