VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Acquires New Holdings in Peabody Energy Corporation $BTU

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new stake in Peabody Energy Corporation (NYSE:BTU) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 65,652 shares of the coal producer’s stock, valued at approximately $881,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in BTU. Long Focus Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Peabody Energy by 96.7% in the 1st quarter. Long Focus Capital Management LLC now owns 1,789,858 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $24,253,000 after purchasing an additional 879,800 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Peabody Energy by 117.6% during the first quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,406,307 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $19,055,000 after acquiring an additional 760,155 shares during the last quarter. Drummond Knight Asset Management Pty Ltd bought a new position in shares of Peabody Energy during the first quarter valued at $9,196,000. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Peabody Energy during the first quarter valued at $9,083,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Peabody Energy by 698.4% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 738,425 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $10,006,000 after acquiring an additional 645,934 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.44% of the company’s stock.

Peabody Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BTU opened at $29.02 on Friday. Peabody Energy Corporation has a twelve month low of $9.61 and a twelve month high of $35.99. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $17.44. The company has a market capitalization of $3.53 billion, a PE ratio of 28.17 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 2.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The coal producer reported ($0.06) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $890.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $944.27 million. Peabody Energy had a return on equity of 4.41% and a net margin of 3.43%.Peabody Energy’s quarterly revenue was down 14.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.42 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Peabody Energy Corporation will post 2.61 EPS for the current year.

Peabody Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 14th were issued a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 14th. Peabody Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BTU has been the subject of several analyst reports. B. Riley raised their price target on shares of Peabody Energy from $18.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Peabody Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Peabody Energy in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Peabody Energy from $17.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Peabody Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.20.

Peabody Energy Company Profile

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.