Knife River (NYSE:KNF) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Stephens

Stock analysts at Stephens started coverage on shares of Knife River (NYSE:KNF) in a research report issued on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm set an “overweight” rating and a $85.00 price target on the stock. Stephens’ price target would indicate a potential upside of 20.67% from the stock’s previous close.

KNF has been the subject of several other research reports. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Knife River in a report on Friday, March 8th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Knife River from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $77.67.

Knife River Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of KNF opened at $70.44 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.99 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.72. Knife River has a 52 week low of $41.53 and a 52 week high of $83.78. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $74.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $71.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 2.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Knife River (NYSE:KNF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.84) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.80) by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $329.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $300.98 million. Knife River had a return on equity of 14.65% and a net margin of 6.19%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($516.50) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Knife River will post 3.52 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Knife River

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Knife River by 10.0% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 211,265 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,982,000 after buying an additional 19,125 shares during the period. UBS Group AG grew its position in Knife River by 115.5% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 136,505 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,034,000 after acquiring an additional 73,147 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Knife River by 16.6% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,398,360 shares of the company’s stock worth $92,546,000 after purchasing an additional 199,389 shares during the period. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Knife River in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $6,130,000. Finally, Gilder Gagnon Howe & Co. LLC increased its stake in Knife River by 48.0% during the 4th quarter. Gilder Gagnon Howe & Co. LLC now owns 1,150,473 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,138,000 after buying an additional 373,359 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.11% of the company’s stock.

Knife River Company Profile

Knife River Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides aggregates- led construction materials and contracting services in the United States. It operates through Pacific, Northwest, Mountain, Central, and Energy Services segments. The company mines, processes, and sells construction aggregates, including crushed stone and sand, and gravel; and produces and sells asphalt and ready-mix concrete.