Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) Rating Lowered to Strong Sell at Zacks Research

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) was downgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report issued on Tuesday, Zacks reports.

BTU has been the topic of several other reports. Weiss Ratings raised Peabody Energy from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. B. Riley Financial raised Peabody Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $29.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Monday. Benchmark lowered their price objective on Peabody Energy from $40.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Peabody Energy from $27.00 to $26.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $34.12.

Peabody Energy Stock Down 3.6%

BTU stock opened at $22.48 on Tuesday. Peabody Energy has a fifty-two week low of $20.06 and a fifty-two week high of $41.14. The company has a market capitalization of $2.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.99 and a beta of 0.33. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $26.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 2.01.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The coal producer reported ($0.74) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.38) by ($0.36). Peabody Energy had a negative net margin of 4.56% and a negative return on equity of 5.22%. The firm had revenue of $1 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.23) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Peabody Energy will post 0.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Peabody Energy

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in BTU. Deltec Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Peabody Energy by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. Deltec Asset Management LLC now owns 27,000 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $659,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares in the last quarter. Steinberganna Wealth Management raised its holdings in Peabody Energy by 3.7% in the third quarter. Steinberganna Wealth Management now owns 64,598 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $1,576,000 after buying an additional 2,279 shares during the last quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Peabody Energy by 6.6% in the third quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 36,631 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $893,000 after buying an additional 2,273 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Peabody Energy in the third quarter worth approximately $209,000. Finally, Integrated Advisors Network LLC lifted its stake in shares of Peabody Energy by 1.8% in the third quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 255,986 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $6,243,000 after buying an additional 4,542 shares in the last quarter. 87.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Peabody Energy Company Profile

Peabody Energy Corp. is a global coal producer and supplier of energy and industrial fuels. The company mines, processes and markets thermal coal, which is primarily used for electricity generation, and metallurgical coal, which is used in steelmaking. Peabody also provides coal-trading and logistics services and works with customers to transport products to domestic and international markets.

Peabody operates mines in the United States and Australia, serving electric utilities, steel producers and other industrial customers.