Bridgewater Associates LP Takes $516,000 Position in Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU)

Bridgewater Associates LP purchased a new position in shares of Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 19,430 shares of the coal producer’s stock, valued at approximately $516,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 8,020,670 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted 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 worth $70,016,000 after buying an additional 531,440 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Peabody Energy by 14.1% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,388,681 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $36,856,000 after buying an additional 171,272 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in shares of Peabody Energy by 167.4% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 200,073 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $5,310,000 after buying an additional 125,244 shares during the period. Finally, CX Institutional bought a new stake in shares of Peabody Energy during the third quarter worth $3,133,000. Institutional investors own 87.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BTU has been the topic of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Peabody Energy from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Benchmark upped their target price on shares of Peabody Energy from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, B. Riley increased their target price on shares of Peabody Energy from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th.

Insider Transactions at Peabody Energy

In other Peabody Energy news, CFO Mark Spurbeck sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 65,710 shares in the company, valued at $1,939,759.20. This trade represents a 13.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Peabody Energy Stock Performance

Shares of BTU stock opened at $23.60 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.87 billion, a PE ratio of 6.24 and a beta of 0.98. Peabody Energy Co. has a 12 month low of $20.21 and a 12 month high of $29.94. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $26.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 2.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The coal producer reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.16. Peabody Energy had a return on equity of 14.74% and a net margin of 12.24%. The business had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.80 earnings per share. Peabody Energy’s revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be given a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.27%. Peabody Energy’s payout ratio is 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.