CWA Asset Management Group LLC Makes New $368,000 Investment in Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU)

CWA Asset Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 17,550 shares of the coal producer’s stock, valued at approximately $368,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BTU. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Peabody Energy by 79.2% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 175,424 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $4,693,000 after acquiring an additional 77,525 shares during the period. Zacks Investment Management acquired a new stake in Peabody Energy during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,714,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Peabody Energy by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,918,536 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $77,473,000 after buying an additional 216,887 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Peabody Energy by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,631,707 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $202,546,000 after buying an additional 540,219 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 167.4% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 200,073 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $5,310,000 after buying an additional 125,244 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. B. Riley upped their price target on Peabody Energy from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Peabody Energy from $30.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Peabody Energy from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $26.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Benchmark upped their price objective on shares of Peabody Energy from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st.

Insider Buying and Selling at Peabody Energy

In other news, CFO Mark Spurbeck sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.52, for a total transaction of $295,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 65,710 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,939,759.20. This represents a 13.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Peabody Energy Stock Performance

Peabody Energy stock opened at $19.00 on Thursday. Peabody Energy Co. has a 12-month low of $18.72 and a 12-month high of $29.94. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $23.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $23.49. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 2.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.03 and a beta of 0.99.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The coal producer reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.16. Peabody Energy had a net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 14.74%. The company had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.80 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Peabody Energy Co. will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Peabody Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were given a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.58%. Peabody Energy’s payout ratio is 7.94%.

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.