Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU) Short Interest Down 13.1% in November

Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest during the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 13,650,000 shares, a decline of 13.1% from the October 31st total of 15,700,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,860,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.8 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Peabody Energy from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock 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 upped their target price 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.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Peabody Energy news, CFO Mark Spurbeck sold 10,000 shares of Peabody Energy 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 65,710 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,939,759.20. This trade represents a 13.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Peabody Energy

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 265,937.3% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 8,023,686 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $212,949,000 after purchasing an additional 8,020,670 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 7.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,631,707 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $202,546,000 after purchasing an additional 540,219 shares in the last quarter. Progeny 3 Inc. lifted its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 1.6% during the third quarter. Progeny 3 Inc. now owns 3,580,014 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $95,014,000 after purchasing an additional 56,280 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 20.2% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,165,258 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $70,016,000 after purchasing an additional 531,440 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 8.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,918,536 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $77,473,000 after purchasing an additional 216,887 shares in the last quarter. 87.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Peabody Energy Price Performance

NYSE BTU traded down $0.06 on Tuesday, reaching $23.54. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,004,305 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,999,017. The firm has a market cap of $2.86 billion, a PE ratio of 6.24 and a beta of 0.95. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $26.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.90. Peabody Energy has a 52 week low of $20.21 and a 52 week high of $29.94. The company has a current ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The coal producer reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $1.09 billion for 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.80 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Peabody Energy will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

Peabody Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.27%. Peabody Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 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.