Knife River (NYSE:KNF) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

Knife River Corporation (NYSE:KNF) gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday. The stock had previously closed at $57.73, but opened at $61.01. Knife River shares last traded at $58.5970, with a volume of 277,197 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on KNF. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Knife River from $73.00 to $63.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 13th. Zacks Research raised shares of Knife River from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Knife River from $62.00 to $54.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 5th. Wolfe Research upgraded Knife River from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Knife River from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $69.29.

Knife River Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The company’s 50-day moving average is $55.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $73.97. The firm has a market cap of $3.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.88, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.46.

Knife River (NYSE:KNF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 3rd. The company reported $2.43 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.58 by ($0.15). The firm had revenue of $1.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.30 billion. Knife River had a net margin of 4.23% and a return on equity of 8.73%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.52 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Knife River Corporation will post 2.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Knife River

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. William Mack & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Knife River in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its position in Knife River by 40.6% in the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 3,986 shares of the company’s stock worth $201,000 after acquiring an additional 1,151 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in Knife River by 267.1% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 826 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 601 shares in the last quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. raised its holdings in Knife River by 26.4% during the third quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 4,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $202,000 after acquiring an additional 836 shares during the period. Finally, Allied Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Knife River by 16.5% during the third quarter. Allied Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,384 shares of the company’s stock worth $271,000 after acquiring an additional 763 shares during the last quarter. 80.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Knife River Company Profile

Knife River Corporation is a construction materials and contracting company headquartered in Bismarck, North Dakota. The company produces and sells construction aggregates, asphalt, ready-mix concrete and cement, and also provides related construction services for transportation, commercial, residential and industrial projects.

Its operations include aggregate mining and processing, asphalt and concrete production, paving, site development and other heavy-construction activities. Knife River serves public-sector and private-sector customers, including state and local governments, contractors, commercial developers and industrial businesses.

Knife River became an independent publicly traded company in 2023 after being spun off from MDU Resources Group.