State Street Corp Grows Stock Holdings in Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU)

State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU - Free Report) by 7.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,631,707 shares of the coal producer's stock after acquiring an additional 540,219 shares during the quarter. State Street Corp owned approximately 6.28% of Peabody Energy worth $202,546,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in BTU. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 167.4% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 200,073 shares of the coal producer's stock worth $5,310,000 after acquiring an additional 125,244 shares during the last quarter. Readystate Asset Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Peabody Energy by 75.2% during the 3rd quarter. Readystate Asset Management LP now owns 81,919 shares of the coal producer's stock valued at $2,174,000 after purchasing an additional 35,159 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in shares of Peabody Energy by 255.7% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 117,071 shares of the coal producer's stock valued at $3,107,000 after purchasing an additional 84,161 shares during the last quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. grew its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 91.4% during the second quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 70,674 shares of the coal producer's stock valued at $1,563,000 after purchasing an additional 33,758 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Peabody Energy by 547.9% in the third quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 273,529 shares of the coal producer's stock worth $7,259,000 after purchasing an additional 231,309 shares during the last quarter. 87.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Peabody Energy news, CFO Mark Spurbeck sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.52, for a total value of $295,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 65,710 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,939,759.20. This represents a 13.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Peabody Energy Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:BTU traded down $0.29 during trading on Friday, hitting $22.00. The company had a trading volume of 1,184,364 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,964,490. The stock has a market cap of $2.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.81 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 2.32 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $25.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $23.86. Peabody Energy Co. has a one year low of $20.21 and a one year high of $29.94.

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

Peabody Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.36%. Peabody Energy's payout ratio is 7.94%.

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.