BNP Paribas Financial Markets Acquires 84,161 Shares of Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU - Free Report) by 255.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 117,071 shares of the coal producer's stock after purchasing an additional 84,161 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned 0.10% of Peabody Energy worth $3,107,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BTU. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Peabody Energy by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 71,949 shares of the coal producer's stock worth $1,746,000 after purchasing an additional 3,823 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank boosted its stake in Peabody Energy by 580.4% in the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 54,153 shares of the coal producer's stock valued at $1,314,000 after acquiring an additional 46,194 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Peabody Energy by 1.2% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,190,141 shares of the coal producer's stock valued at $48,446,000 after purchasing an additional 26,202 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 11,390.0% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,149 shares of the coal producer's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 1,139 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 2.9% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,352,067 shares of the coal producer's stock worth $29,908,000 after purchasing an additional 38,492 shares in the last quarter. 87.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on BTU. B. Riley boosted their price objective on Peabody Energy from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Benchmark increased their price target on shares of Peabody Energy from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Peabody Energy from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th.

Peabody Energy Price Performance

Peabody Energy stock traded down $0.68 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $22.38. 2,018,682 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,993,124. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $25.84 and a two-hundred day moving average of $23.89. Peabody Energy Co. has a twelve month low of $20.21 and a twelve month high of $29.94. The company has a current ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The company has a market cap of $2.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.92 and a beta of 0.95.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The coal producer reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.07 billion. Peabody Energy had a return on equity of 14.74% and a net margin of 12.24%. Peabody Energy's revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.80 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Peabody Energy Co. will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Peabody Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th were issued a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. Peabody Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.94%.

Insider Transactions at Peabody Energy

In other news, CFO Mark Spurbeck sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.52, for a total value of $295,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 65,710 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,939,759.20. This represents a 13.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company's stock.

Peabody Energy 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.