Knife River (NYSE:KNF) Given New $59.00 Price Target at Royal Bank Of Canada

Knife River (NYSE:KNF) had its price objective boosted by equities researchers at Royal Bank Of Canada from $58.00 to $59.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “sector perform” rating on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada‘s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 3.44% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. B. Riley Financial cut their price objective on shares of Knife River from $105.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 25th. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on shares of Knife River from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 24th. DA Davidson began coverage on Knife River in a research report on Monday, August 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $85.00 price target on the stock. Zacks Research upgraded Knife River from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Knife River from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $68.00.

Knife River Stock Down 8.4%

Knife River stock traded down $5.20 on Thursday, hitting $57.04. 428,081 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 699,385. Knife River has a 1 year low of $47.79 and a 1 year high of $96.28. The firm has a market cap of $3.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $55.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $73.78.

Knife River (NYSE:KNF) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 3rd. The company reported $2.43 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by ($0.15). The business had revenue of $1.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.30 billion. Knife River had a return on equity of 8.22% and a net margin of 3.98%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.52 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Knife River will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor purchased a new stake in shares of Knife River during the second quarter valued at approximately $21,242,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Knife River by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,464,690 shares of the company’s stock worth $119,579,000 after acquiring an additional 73,028 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in Knife River by 19.0% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 392,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,050,000 after acquiring an additional 62,592 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in Knife River by 214.2% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 89,551 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,312,000 after acquiring an additional 61,053 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in Knife River in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $3,187,000. Institutional investors own 80.11% of the company’s stock.

About Knife River

Knife River Corporation is a construction materials and contracting company headquartered in Bismarck, North Dakota. The company produces and sells construction aggregates, asphalt, ready-mix concrete and cement, and also provides related construction services for transportation, commercial, residential and industrial projects.

Its operations include aggregate mining and processing, asphalt and concrete production, paving, site development and other heavy-construction activities. Knife River serves public-sector and private-sector customers, including state and local governments, contractors, commercial developers and industrial businesses.

Knife River became an independent publicly traded company in 2023 after being spun off from MDU Resources Group.