Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) Cut to Sell at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report issued on Saturday.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on BTU. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Peabody Energy in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. 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 report on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research cut shares of Peabody Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Benchmark raised their target price on Peabody Energy from $23.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, B. Riley boosted their price target on Peabody Energy from $18.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $27.00.

Peabody Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BTU opened at $26.13 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.37 and a beta of 0.50. Peabody Energy has a 1 year low of $9.61 and a 1 year high of $35.99. The company has a current ratio of 2.21, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $28.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $19.98.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The coal producer reported ($0.58) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.19) by ($0.39). The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $990.20 million. Peabody Energy had a return on equity of 4.41% and a net margin of 3.43%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.74 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Peabody Energy will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Peabody Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 13th will be issued a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 13th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. Peabody Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -103.45%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Peabody Energy by 19.3% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,208,031 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $123,572,000 after acquiring an additional 1,487,531 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in Peabody Energy by 8.7% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,425,459 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $117,363,000 after purchasing an additional 354,099 shares during the last quarter. Progeny 3 Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Peabody Energy by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Progeny 3 Inc. now owns 3,916,934 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $52,565,000 after purchasing an additional 18,920 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Peabody Energy by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,009,472 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $40,395,000 after purchasing an additional 40,785 shares during the period. Finally, Sourcerock Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Peabody Energy during the second quarter valued at about $28,092,000. 87.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Peabody Energy

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.