Knife River Corporation $KNF Shares Sold by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered its holdings in Knife River Corporation (NYSE:KNF) by 9.9% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 97,036 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,690 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Knife River were worth $7,459,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Knife River by 141.8% during the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 341 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Knife River in the 3rd quarter valued at about $47,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in Knife River by 124.5% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 412 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Knife River by 1,365.6% in the second quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,363 shares of the company’s stock valued at $113,000 after buying an additional 1,270 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its stake in Knife River by 394.4% during the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,691 shares of the company’s stock worth $130,000 after buying an additional 1,349 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.11% of the company’s stock.

Knife River Stock Performance

NYSE KNF opened at $79.07 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 2.54 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The company has a market cap of $4.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.26. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $81.17 and a two-hundred day moving average of $75.26. Knife River Corporation has a 1-year low of $58.72 and a 1-year high of $103.18.

Knife River (NYSE:KNF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The company reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.15. Knife River had a net margin of 4.99% and a return on equity of 10.27%. The business had revenue of $755.06 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $726.60 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.41 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Knife River Corporation will post 4.11 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on KNF. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Knife River from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Knife River in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Knife River from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $75.00 to $81.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Knife River from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, B. Riley Financial initiated coverage on Knife River in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. They set a “buy” rating and a $92.00 price target on the stock. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $97.43.

Knife River 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.