Brokerages Set Knife River Co. (NYSE:KNF) Price Target at $81.60

Knife River Co. (NYSE:KNF - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the six ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $86.60.

Separately, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Knife River from $85.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Knife River

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of KNF. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Knife River by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,044,184 shares of the company's stock valued at $400,004,000 after acquiring an additional 503,892 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its position in shares of Knife River by 12.2% during the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 2,064,224 shares of the company's stock worth $144,785,000 after purchasing an additional 224,373 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Knife River during the 1st quarter worth approximately $9,730,000. M&G Plc acquired a new position in shares of Knife River during the 1st quarter worth approximately $9,289,000. Finally, Interval Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Knife River during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $7,614,000. 80.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Knife River Stock Performance

KNF traded up $1.50 during trading on Monday, reaching $94.94. The company's stock had a trading volume of 292,511 shares, compared to its average volume of 381,327. Knife River has a 52-week low of $46.51 and a 52-week high of $95.85. The company's fifty day moving average price is $83.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $77.72. The company has a market capitalization of $5.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a current ratio of 2.51.

Knife River (NYSE:KNF - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.24 by $0.13. Knife River had a return on equity of 15.73% and a net margin of 6.88%. The company had revenue of $806.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $803.81 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.00 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Knife River will post 3.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Knife River Company Profile

Knife River Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides aggregates- led construction materials and contracting services in the United States. It operates through Pacific, Northwest, Mountain, Central, and Energy Services segments. The company mines, processes, and sells construction aggregates, including crushed stone and sand, and gravel; and produces and sells asphalt and ready-mix concrete.