Peabody Energy Co. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.08 (NYSE:BTU)

Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, May 2nd, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of 0.075 per share by the coal producer on Wednesday, June 5th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.35%.

Peabody Energy has a dividend payout ratio of 11.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Peabody Energy to earn $2.94 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.30 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 10.2%.

Peabody Energy Stock Performance

Shares of BTU traded up $0.79 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $22.23. 1,728,346 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,627,983. The company has a quick ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 2.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $24.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $24.40. Peabody Energy has a twelve month low of $17.71 and a twelve month high of $27.24. The company has a market cap of $2.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.30 and a beta of 1.01.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The coal producer reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.41 by ($0.08). Peabody Energy had a return on equity of 21.45% and a net margin of 15.36%. The business had revenue of $1.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.65 EPS. Peabody Energy’s revenue for the quarter was down 24.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Peabody Energy will post 3.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BTU. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $28.00 price target on shares of Peabody Energy in a research report on Friday, April 12th. B. Riley dropped their price target on Peabody Energy from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 15th.

Insider Activity at Peabody Energy

In other news, COO Darren Ronald Yeates sold 31,980 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.48, for a total transaction of $814,850.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 78,307 shares in the company, valued at $1,995,262.36. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Peabody Energy news, COO Darren Ronald Yeates sold 31,980 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.48, for a total value of $814,850.40. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 78,307 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,995,262.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Mark Spurbeck sold 6,826 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.57, for a total value of $167,714.82. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 75,464 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,854,150.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 52,806 shares of company stock valued at $1,339,565. 0.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.