Old West Investment Management LLC Purchases Shares of 18,390 Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU)

Old West Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 18,390 shares of the coal producer’s stock, valued at approximately $488,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Peabody Energy by 265,937.3% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 8,023,686 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $212,949,000 after purchasing an additional 8,020,670 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 7.6% during 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 in the last quarter. Progeny 3 Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Peabody Energy by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Progeny 3 Inc. now owns 3,580,014 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $95,014,000 after acquiring an additional 56,280 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Peabody Energy by 20.2% in 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 acquiring an additional 531,440 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Peabody Energy by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,918,536 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $77,473,000 after acquiring an additional 216,887 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BTU has been the subject of several analyst reports. Benchmark increased their price objective on Peabody Energy from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target 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. Finally, B. Riley lifted their price objective 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.

Insider Activity at Peabody Energy

In related news, CFO Mark Spurbeck sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 65,710 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,939,759.20. This trade represents a 13.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Peabody Energy Stock Down 0.3 %

BTU stock opened at $22.37 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $2.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.92 and a beta of 0.95. Peabody Energy Co. has a 1-year low of $20.21 and a 1-year 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 stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $25.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $23.89.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) last posted 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 company had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.07 billion. Peabody Energy had a net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 14.74%. Peabody Energy’s revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.80 EPS. Analysts expect that Peabody Energy Co. will post 3.15 EPS for the current 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 issued a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. Peabody Energy’s payout ratio is 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.