Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) Stock Rating Cut to “Strong Sell” at Zacks Research

Zacks Research lowered shares of Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a report issued on Tuesday morning,Zacks reports.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings raised Peabody Energy from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 2nd. Benchmark reduced their price objective on Peabody Energy from $40.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Peabody Energy from $27.00 to $26.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, B. Riley Financial raised Peabody Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $29.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Monday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.12.

Peabody Energy Stock Down 3.6%

BTU stock opened at $22.48 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 1.46. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.29. Peabody Energy has a 12 month low of $20.06 and a 12 month high of $41.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.74 billion, a PE ratio of -14.99 and a beta of 0.33.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The coal producer reported ($0.74) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.38) by ($0.36). Peabody Energy had a negative return on equity of 5.22% and a negative net margin of 4.56%. The company had revenue of $1 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.23) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Peabody Energy will post 0.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Peabody Energy

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Peabody Energy by 0.9% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,233,585 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $205,429,000 after purchasing an additional 54,072 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Peabody Energy by 387.1% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,556,305 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $35,982,000 after purchasing an additional 1,236,770 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in Peabody Energy by 35.0% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 740,760 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $24,408,000 after purchasing an additional 192,153 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Peabody Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at $22,393,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Peabody Energy by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 591,021 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $19,474,000 after purchasing an additional 11,435 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.44% of the company’s stock.

Peabody Energy Company Profile

Peabody Energy Corp. is a global coal producer and supplier of energy and industrial fuels. The company mines, processes and markets thermal coal, which is primarily used for electricity generation, and metallurgical coal, which is used in steelmaking. Peabody also provides coal-trading and logistics services and works with customers to transport products to domestic and international markets.

Peabody operates mines in the United States and Australia, serving electric utilities, steel producers and other industrial customers.