Larson Financial Group LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU)

Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU) by 43.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,350 shares of the coal producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,008 shares during the quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Peabody Energy were worth $89,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Peabody Energy by 265,937.3% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 8,023,686 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $212,949,000 after buying an additional 8,020,670 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its position in Peabody Energy by 9.2% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 7,348,251 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $178,118,000 after buying an additional 618,395 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Peabody Energy by 20.2% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,165,258 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $70,016,000 after buying an additional 531,440 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $48,446,000 after acquiring an additional 26,202 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Peabody Energy by 14.1% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,388,681 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $36,856,000 after acquiring an additional 171,272 shares during the period. 87.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Peabody Energy Price Performance

NYSE:BTU opened at $24.25 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.42 and a beta of 0.98. Peabody Energy Co. has a 52-week low of $20.21 and a 52-week high of $29.94. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $26.02 and a 200 day moving average of $23.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 2.32.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The coal producer reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.07 billion. Peabody Energy had a return on equity of 14.74% and a net margin of 12.24%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.80 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Peabody Energy Co. will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Peabody Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 14th. Peabody Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 7.94%.

Insider Activity at Peabody Energy

In other Peabody Energy news, CFO Mark Spurbeck sold 10,000 shares of Peabody Energy stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.52, for a total transaction 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 $1,939,759.20. The trade was a 13.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on BTU. B. Riley raised their price target on Peabody Energy from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Peabody Energy from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Benchmark raised their price target on Peabody Energy from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st.

Peabody Energy Company 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.