Old West Investment Management LLC Purchases New Position in Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU)

Old West Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 36,780 shares of the coal producer’s stock, valued at approximately $976,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Peabody Energy by 11,390.0% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,149 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 1,139 shares during the last quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. acquired a new position in Peabody Energy in the third quarter valued at about $36,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Peabody Energy during the third quarter worth about $43,000. Natixis increased its holdings in shares of Peabody Energy by 8,355.0% during the first quarter. Natixis now owns 1,691 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 1,671 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new position in shares of Peabody Energy in the second quarter valued at approximately $44,000. 87.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Peabody Energy Price Performance

Shares of BTU stock opened at $27.20 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $24.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $23.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 2.32. Peabody Energy Co. has a 52-week low of $20.21 and a 52-week high of $27.41. The stock has a market cap of $3.42 billion, a PE ratio of 7.20 and a beta of 0.98.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The coal producer reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.80 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Peabody Energy Co. will post 2.98 EPS for the current year.

Peabody Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 14th. Peabody Energy’s payout ratio is 7.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Peabody Energy Company Profile

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.