Knife River Co. (NYSE:KNF) Short Interest Update

Knife River Co. (NYSE:KNF) saw a significant increase in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,710,000 shares, an increase of 6.2% from the December 15th total of 1,610,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 426,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.0 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Knife River

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Knife River by 129.4% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 312 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Huntington National Bank raised its stake in shares of Knife River by 586.0% during the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 343 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 293 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Knife River in the 2nd quarter valued at about $43,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Knife River in the 3rd quarter valued at about $60,000. Finally, Sittner & Nelson LLC boosted its stake in shares of Knife River by 18.5% in the third quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 960 shares of the company’s stock worth $86,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Loop Capital cut their price objective on shares of Knife River from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Knife River from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their price objective on Knife River from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Knife River has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $103.75.

Knife River Stock Performance

NYSE:KNF traded up $0.64 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $104.91. 316,460 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 465,777. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 1.91. Knife River has a 52-week low of $62.10 and a 52-week high of $108.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.06, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.78. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $101.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $89.43.

Knife River (NYSE:KNF) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $2.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.82 by ($0.22). Knife River had a net margin of 6.89% and a return on equity of 15.22%. The firm had revenue of $1.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.58 earnings per share. Knife River’s revenue was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Knife River will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Knife River Company Profile

Knife River Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides aggregates- led construction materials and contracting services in the United States. It operates through Pacific, Northwest, Mountain, Central, and Energy Services segments. The company mines, processes, and sells construction aggregates, including crushed stone and sand, and gravel; and produces and sells asphalt and ready-mix concrete.