Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) Shares Up 7%

Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU) shares shot up 7% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $23.90 and last traded at $23.67. 560,157 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 3,241,921 shares. The stock had previously closed at $22.12.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on BTU. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Peabody Energy from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 3rd. B. Riley dropped their target price on shares of Peabody Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $28.00 target price on shares of Peabody Energy in a report on Friday, May 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $28.25.

Peabody Energy Stock Performance

The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $22.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $24.12. The company has a current ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The company has a market cap of $2.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.54 and a beta of 0.97.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The coal producer reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.30. Peabody Energy had a net margin of 11.62% and a return on equity of 14.98%. The company had revenue of $983.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $980.03 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.69 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 27.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Peabody Energy Co. will post 2.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Peabody Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th were paid a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.28%. Peabody Energy’s payout ratio is currently 8.36%.

Institutional Trading of Peabody Energy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BTU. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Peabody Energy by 21.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,957,602 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $338,611,000 after acquiring an additional 2,473,286 shares during the period. Thomist Capital Management LP increased its stake in Peabody Energy by 483.0% in the first quarter. Thomist Capital Management LP now owns 2,024,769 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $49,121,000 after acquiring an additional 1,677,448 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Peabody Energy by 106.1% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,154,535 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $52,398,000 after acquiring an additional 1,109,261 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Peabody Energy by 4,386.6% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 646,648 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $15,688,000 after buying an additional 632,235 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners boosted its position in Peabody Energy by 9.2% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 7,348,251 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $178,118,000 after buying an additional 618,395 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.44% of the company’s stock.

Peabody Energy Company Profile

Peabody Energy Corporation engages in coal mining business in the United States, Japan, Taiwan, Australia, India, Brazil, Belgium, Chile, France, Indonesia, China, Vietnam, South Korea, Germany, and internationally. The company operates through Seaborne Thermal, Seaborne Metallurgical, Powder River Basin, Other U.S.