Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $15.57 Million Stake in Peabody Energy Corporation $BTU

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its position in shares of Peabody Energy Corporation (NYSE:BTU) by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 587,213 shares of the coal producer’s stock after selling 15,723 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.48% of Peabody Energy worth $15,573,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Peabody Energy by 104.3% during the second quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,006 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 1,024 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Peabody Energy by 57.7% in the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,229 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 816 shares in the last quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Peabody Energy by 763.4% during the third quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 1,131 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Peabody Energy in the second quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, EMC Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Peabody Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at $73,000. 87.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Scott T. Jarboe sold 2,151 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.26, for a total value of $73,693.26. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 82,306 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,819,803.56. This trade represents a 2.55% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on BTU shares. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Peabody Energy from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Benchmark boosted their price objective on Peabody Energy from $23.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. B. Riley Securities upped their target price on Peabody Energy from $38.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Peabody Energy from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Peabody Energy from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.20.

Peabody Energy Stock Performance

Shares of BTU opened at $37.79 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $4.60 billion, a P/E ratio of -83.98 and a beta of 0.52. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $32.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $26.88. Peabody Energy Corporation has a 52 week low of $9.61 and a 52 week high of $39.95. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The coal producer reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.10 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. Peabody Energy had a negative return on equity of 0.93% and a negative net margin of 1.37%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.25 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Peabody Energy Corporation will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Peabody Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 23rd. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Peabody Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -66.67%.

Peabody Energy Profile

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.