Peabody Energy Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:BTU)

Peabody Energy Corporation (NYSE:BTU) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders purchased 9,490 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 43% compared to the average daily volume of 6,616 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on BTU. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Peabody Energy from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Weiss Ratings cut Peabody Energy from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Peabody Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. B. Riley Financial raised their price target on Peabody Energy from $38.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Peabody Energy from $34.00 to $34.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.38.

Insider Transactions at Peabody Energy

In other Peabody Energy news, CAO Scott T. Jarboe sold 2,151 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.26, for a total value of $73,693.26. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 82,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,819,803.56. This trade represents a 2.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Darren Ronald Yeates sold 13,892 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.40, for a total transaction of $505,668.80. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 113,440 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,129,216. The trade was a 10.91% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.41% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Peabody Energy

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 24,328 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $723,000 after buying an additional 668 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV purchased a new position in Peabody Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $213,000. Regal Partners Ltd acquired a new position in Peabody Energy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $6,309,000. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Peabody Energy by 30.1% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 548,607 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $16,294,000 after acquiring an additional 126,805 shares in the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in Peabody Energy during the 4th quarter worth $471,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.44% of the company’s stock.

Peabody Energy Stock Performance

NYSE BTU traded up $3.21 during trading on Thursday, reaching $39.47. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,411,365 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,062,376. The firm has a market cap of $4.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -87.53 and a beta of 0.54. Peabody Energy has a twelve month low of $9.61 and a twelve month high of $41.14. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $34.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $30.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 1.85.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The coal producer reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.10 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. Peabody Energy had a negative net margin of 1.37% and a negative return on equity of 0.93%. The firm’s revenue was down 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.25 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Peabody Energy will post 2.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Peabody Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Investors of record on Monday, February 23rd were given a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 23rd. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Peabody Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -66.67%.

Peabody Energy Company Profile

Peabody Energy Corporation is one of the world’s largest private-sector coal companies, engaged primarily in the production and sale of metallurgical and thermal coal. The company’s operations span surface and underground mines, serving utilities, steel mills and other industrial customers that rely on coal as an essential component in power generation and steelmaking. Peabody’s product portfolio includes high-energy thermal coal for electricity generation and low-volatile metallurgical coal used in steel production, reflecting its diverse end-market reach.

Founded in 1883, Peabody Energy has grown from a regional mining concern into a global energy supplier.