Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Reduces Holdings in Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lowered its stake in shares of Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU - Free Report) by 71.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 632,581 shares of the coal producer's stock after selling 1,557,560 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned approximately 0.50% of Peabody Energy worth $16,789,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BTU. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 21.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,957,602 shares of the coal producer's stock valued at $338,611,000 after acquiring an additional 2,473,286 shares during the period. Thomist Capital Management LP raised its stake in Peabody Energy by 483.0% in the 1st quarter. Thomist Capital Management LP now owns 2,024,769 shares of the coal producer's stock valued at $49,121,000 after acquiring an additional 1,677,448 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Peabody Energy by 4,386.6% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 646,648 shares of the coal producer's stock valued at $15,688,000 after purchasing an additional 632,235 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its stake in shares of Peabody Energy by 9.2% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 7,348,251 shares of the coal producer's stock valued at $178,118,000 after buying an additional 618,395 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Peabody Energy by 20.2% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,165,258 shares of the coal producer's stock valued at $70,016,000 after acquiring an additional 531,440 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.44% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on BTU shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Peabody Energy from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. B. Riley raised their price objective on shares of Peabody Energy from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th.

Peabody Energy Price Performance

BTU traded down $0.04 on Friday, reaching $24.40. The company had a trading volume of 1,615,036 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,989,375. Peabody Energy Co. has a 52-week low of $20.21 and a 52-week high of $27.24. The company has a market cap of $3.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.80 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 2.49. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $24.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $23.26.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The coal producer reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.90. Peabody Energy had a net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 15.35%. The firm had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Peabody Energy Co. will post 2.98 EPS for the current year.

Peabody Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.23%. Peabody Energy's dividend payout ratio is 8.36%.

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.