Principal Financial Group Inc. Trims Stock Position in Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU)

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its position in shares of Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU) by 2.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 593,570 shares of the coal producer’s stock after selling 15,352 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.49% of Peabody Energy worth $15,753,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Peabody Energy by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,897 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $183,000 after acquiring an additional 611 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in Peabody Energy by 7.6% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 10,023 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $222,000 after purchasing an additional 709 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Peabody Energy by 43.0% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 3,350 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $89,000 after buying an additional 1,008 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Peabody Energy by 69.7% during the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,802 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $74,000 after buying an additional 1,151 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in shares of Peabody Energy by 0.9% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 145,613 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $3,865,000 after purchasing an additional 1,242 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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. Benchmark increased their price objective on shares of Peabody Energy from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets raised Peabody Energy from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $26.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, B. Riley boosted their price objective on Peabody Energy from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Mark Spurbeck sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.52, for a total transaction of $295,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 65,710 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,939,759.20. The trade was a 13.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Peabody Energy Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:BTU opened at $19.96 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $24.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $23.62. Peabody Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $19.58 and a 1 year high of $29.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.28 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.

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

Peabody Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were paid a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. Peabody Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.94%.

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.