Knife River Corporation (NYSE:KNF) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Knife River Corporation (NYSE:KNF) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have given a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $97.4286.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on KNF. DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Knife River from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Knife River in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Wall Street Zen raised Knife River from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Zacks Research upgraded Knife River from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on Knife River from $106.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th.

Knife River Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of KNF opened at $85.93 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $81.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $75.14. The company has a current ratio of 2.54, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.27. Knife River has a 12-month low of $58.72 and a 12-month high of $103.18.

Knife River (NYSE:KNF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The company reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $755.06 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $726.60 million. Knife River had a net margin of 4.99% and a return on equity of 10.27%. The firm’s revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.41 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Knife River will post 4.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Knife River

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in KNF. Baillie Gifford & Co. bought a new stake in shares of Knife River in the 3rd quarter valued at about $169,020,000. Capital World Investors bought a new position in shares of Knife River during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $71,166,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Knife River during the second quarter valued at approximately $53,260,000. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its holdings in Knife River by 57.7% during the fourth quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 1,774,284 shares of the company’s stock valued at $124,821,000 after buying an additional 648,979 shares during the period. Finally, Voss Capital LP purchased a new position in Knife River during the third quarter valued at approximately $33,823,000. 80.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Knife River Company Profile

Knife River Corporation, headquartered in Bismarck, North Dakota, is a leading integrated construction materials and contracting company in the western United States. The company specializes in producing and supplying aggregates, asphalt mix, ready-mixed concrete and other heavy construction materials used in highway, commercial and residential projects.

In addition to material production, Knife River offers a comprehensive suite of contracting services, including heavy civil construction, road building, underground and open-pit mining and logistics support.