Knife River (NYSE:KNF) Reaches New 1-Year Low – Time to Sell?

Knife River Corporation (NYSE:KNF) hit a new 52-week low during trading on Tuesday. The stock traded as low as $48.80 and last traded at $49.13, with a volume of 27,258 shares. The stock had previously closed at $49.44.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on KNF shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Knife River from $62.00 to $54.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Zacks Research raised Knife River from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Knife River in a report on Monday, August 24th. Wall Street Zen lowered Knife River from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, B. Riley Financial cut their price target 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $70.71.

Knife River Stock Down 1.2%

The company has a quick ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $59.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $73.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.77 billion, a PE ratio of 19.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.46.

Knife River (NYSE:KNF) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by ($0.36). Knife River had a net margin of 4.23% and a return on equity of 8.73%. The firm had revenue of $938.59 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $931.39 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.89 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Knife River Corporation will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Knife River

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in KNF. Congress Asset Management Co. lifted its position in Knife River by 21.4% in the 3rd quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 106,446 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,367,000 after acquiring an additional 18,728 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Knife River in the 2nd quarter worth $151,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Knife River by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 24,881 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,081,000 after purchasing an additional 1,091 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Knife River by 1.2% in the second quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 101,976 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,530,000 after purchasing an additional 1,254 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in shares of Knife River by 74.6% in the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 590 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.11% of the company’s stock.

About Knife River

Knife River Corporation is a construction materials and contracting company serving public and private infrastructure markets across the western and north-central United States. The company produces and supplies essential construction materials, including crushed stone, sand and gravel, ready-mix concrete, asphalt and related products.

In addition to materials production, Knife River provides construction services such as asphalt paving, concrete construction, site development, excavation and other heavy civil work.