VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Purchases Shares of 65,652 Peabody Energy Corporation $BTU

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new stake in Peabody Energy Corporation (NYSE:BTU) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 65,652 shares of the coal producer’s stock, valued at approximately $881,000. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al owned 0.05% of Peabody Energy as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in Peabody Energy by 315.0% in the 1st quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,125 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 1,613 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC grew its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 48.5% during the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,353 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 768 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 65.2% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,886 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 1,533 shares in the last quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 27.2% during the 2nd quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 4,129 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 884 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 74.5% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 5,484 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 2,342 shares in the last quarter. 87.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BTU. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Peabody Energy from $17.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. B. Riley increased their target price on shares of Peabody Energy from $18.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Peabody Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Peabody Energy in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.20.

Peabody Energy Stock Performance

NYSE BTU opened at $29.02 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.21, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.17 and a beta of 0.67. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $23.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.44. Peabody Energy Corporation has a 1 year low of $9.61 and a 1 year high of $35.99.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The coal producer reported ($0.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $890.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $944.27 million. Peabody Energy had a return on equity of 4.41% and a net margin of 3.43%.The business’s revenue was down 14.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.42 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Peabody Energy Corporation will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Peabody Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 14th were paid a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 14th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. Peabody Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.13%.

About Peabody Energy

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.