Peabody Energy Corporation (NYSE:BTU) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Peabody Energy Corporation (NYSE:BTU) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the six research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have given a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $34.1250.

Several research analysts recently weighed in on BTU shares. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Peabody Energy from $32.00 to $30.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. B. Riley Financial cut shares of Peabody Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $42.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Peabody Energy from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Peabody Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th.

Institutional Trading of Peabody Energy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BTU. Wealth High Governance Capital Ltda bought a new stake in shares of Peabody Energy in the 1st quarter valued at about $3,463,000. Wealth High Governance Asset Management Ltda. bought a new position in shares of Peabody Energy in the first quarter valued at $2,959,000. Rathbones Group PLC bought a new position in shares of Peabody Energy in the first quarter valued at $240,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Peabody Energy by 279.2% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 148,965 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $4,908,000 after buying an additional 109,678 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC bought a new position in shares of Peabody Energy in the first quarter valued at $2,248,000. 87.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Peabody Energy Stock Performance

Peabody Energy stock opened at $23.44 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $25.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. Peabody Energy has a 12-month low of $12.60 and a 12-month high of $41.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -23.68 and a beta of 0.36.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The coal producer reported ($0.26) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by ($0.40). Peabody Energy had a negative net margin of 3.07% and a negative return on equity of 2.80%. The business had revenue of $973.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $977.42 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.27 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Peabody Energy will post 0.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Peabody Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 19th were issued a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 19th. Peabody Energy’s payout ratio is currently -30.30%.

About Peabody Energy

Peabody Energy Corporation is one of the world’s largest private-sector coal companies, engaged primarily in the production and sale of metallurgical and thermal coal. The company’s operations span surface and underground mines, serving utilities, steel mills and other industrial customers that rely on coal as an essential component in power generation and steelmaking. Peabody’s product portfolio includes high-energy thermal coal for electricity generation and low-volatile metallurgical coal used in steel production, reflecting its diverse end-market reach.

Founded in 1883, Peabody Energy has grown from a regional mining concern into a global energy supplier.