Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Put Options on Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU)

Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU) saw unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Traders purchased 23,268 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 92% compared to the average volume of 12,106 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BTU has been the topic of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Peabody Energy from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. B. Riley boosted their price target on Peabody Energy from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Benchmark raised their price objective on Peabody Energy from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st.

Peabody Energy Stock Performance

Shares of BTU stock opened at $24.25 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 2.32. The company has a market capitalization of $2.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.42 and a beta of 0.98. Peabody Energy has a one year low of $20.21 and a one year high of $29.94. The company’s 50-day moving average is $26.00 and its 200 day moving average is $23.86.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The coal producer reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.16. Peabody Energy had a return on equity of 14.74% and a net margin of 12.24%. The company had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.07 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.80 earnings per share. Peabody Energy’s revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Peabody Energy will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Peabody Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. Peabody Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Mark Spurbeck sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.52, for a total value of $295,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Peabody Energy

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BTU. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Peabody Energy by 79.2% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 175,424 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $4,693,000 after acquiring an additional 77,525 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Peabody Energy by 16.5% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 37,826 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $1,037,000 after purchasing an additional 5,361 shares in the last quarter. Old West Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Peabody Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at $488,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Peabody Energy by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,918,536 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $77,473,000 after buying an additional 216,887 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Peabody Energy by 323.5% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 248,891 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $6,605,000 after buying an additional 190,120 shares during the period. 87.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Peabody Energy

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.