Centiva Capital LP Purchases New Shares in Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU)

Centiva Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 25,525 shares of the coal producer’s stock, valued at approximately $677,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BTU. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Peabody Energy by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 71,949 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $1,746,000 after buying an additional 3,823 shares during the period. Comerica Bank grew its position in Peabody Energy by 580.4% in the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 54,153 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $1,314,000 after acquiring an additional 46,194 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Peabody Energy by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,190,141 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $48,446,000 after acquiring an additional 26,202 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Peabody Energy by 11,390.0% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,149 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 1,139 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Peabody Energy by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,352,067 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $29,908,000 after acquiring an additional 38,492 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.44% of the company’s stock.

Peabody Energy Price Performance

BTU opened at $22.38 on Friday. Peabody Energy Co. has a 12-month low of $20.21 and a 12-month high of $29.94. The company has a current ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $25.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.89. The company has a market capitalization of $2.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.92 and a beta of 0.95.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) last posted 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. Peabody Energy had a return on equity of 14.74% and a net margin of 12.24%. The business had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.80 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Peabody Energy Co. will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Peabody Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were given a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. Peabody Energy’s payout ratio is 7.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insider Transactions at Peabody Energy

In other news, CFO Mark Spurbeck sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.52, for a total transaction of $295,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 65,710 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,939,759.20. This represents a 13.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.09% 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.