Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) Hits New 1-Year High After Analyst Upgrade

Peabody Energy Corporation (NYSE:BTU)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Friday after Wall Street Zen upgraded the stock from a sell rating to a hold rating. The stock traded as high as $30.54 and last traded at $30.98, with a volume of 1315992 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $29.31.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on BTU. B. Riley lifted their price objective on Peabody Energy from $18.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 9th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Peabody Energy from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Peabody Energy in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Peabody Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.20.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Peabody Energy

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 29.8% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 501,160 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $6,791,000 after buying an additional 115,172 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 8.5% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,518,351 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $20,574,000 after buying an additional 118,307 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Peabody Energy during the 1st quarter worth approximately $156,000. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda lifted its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 77.1% during the 2nd quarter. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda now owns 30,000 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $403,000 after buying an additional 13,062 shares during the period. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 145.1% during the 1st quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 45,725 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $620,000 after buying an additional 27,069 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.44% of the company’s stock.

Peabody Energy Trading Up 9.5%

The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $19.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $15.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a current ratio of 2.21. The stock has a market cap of $3.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.16 and a beta of 0.67.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The coal producer reported ($0.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by ($0.02). Peabody Energy had a net margin of 3.43% and a return on equity of 4.41%. The business had revenue of $890.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $944.27 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.42 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Peabody Energy Corporation will post 2.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Peabody Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 14th were given a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 14th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Peabody Energy’s payout ratio is presently 29.13%.

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.