Zacks Investment Management Takes Position in Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU)

Zacks Investment Management bought a new position in Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 64,567 shares of the coal producer's stock, valued at approximately $1,714,000. Zacks Investment Management owned 0.05% of Peabody Energy as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BTU. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Peabody Energy by 11,390.0% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,149 shares of the coal producer's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 1,139 shares during the period. Financial Management Professionals Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Peabody Energy during the third quarter worth about $36,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Peabody Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at about $43,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Peabody Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Peabody Energy by 292.6% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,057 shares of the coal producer's stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 1,533 shares in the last quarter. 87.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BTU has been the topic of a number of research reports. B. Riley lifted 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. Benchmark boosted their price objective on shares of Peabody Energy from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Peabody Energy from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th.

Insider Activity at Peabody Energy

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 shares were sold at an average price of $29.52, for a total transaction of $295,200.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

Peabody Energy Stock Down 0.3 %

NYSE:BTU traded down $0.07 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $22.37. 1,835,580 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,984,379. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 2.32 and a quick ratio of 1.75. Peabody Energy Co. has a twelve month low of $20.21 and a twelve month high of $29.94. The stock has a market cap of $2.72 billion, a PE ratio of 5.92 and a beta of 0.95. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $25.76 and a 200 day moving average of $23.89.

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

Peabody Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 1.34%. Peabody Energy's payout ratio is presently 7.94%.

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.