Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) Shares Gap Down After Earnings Miss

Peabody Energy Corporation (NYSE:BTU)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday following a dissappointing earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $20.66, but opened at $19.00. Peabody Energy shares last traded at $16.9540, with a volume of 977,390 shares.

The coal producer reported ($0.27) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.05) by ($0.22). The company had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.03 billion. Peabody Energy had a negative net margin of 4.56% and a negative return on equity of 5.22%. Peabody Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.58) EPS.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings upgraded Peabody Energy from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 2nd. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Peabody Energy from $27.00 to $26.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Benchmark cut their target price on shares of Peabody Energy from $40.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Peabody Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 27th. Finally, B. Riley Financial raised shares of Peabody Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $29.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Monday, October 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Peabody Energy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $34.12.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. X Square Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Peabody Energy during the second quarter worth $2,470,000. Wealth High Governance Capital Ltda purchased a new stake in shares of Peabody Energy in the first quarter valued at $3,463,000. Wealth High Governance Asset Management Ltda. purchased a new stake in shares of Peabody Energy in the first quarter valued at $2,959,000. Susquehanna Advisors Group Inc. acquired a new position in Peabody Energy in the second quarter valued at $1,081,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Peabody Energy by 387.1% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,556,305 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $35,982,000 after purchasing an additional 1,236,770 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.44% of the company’s stock.

Peabody Energy Price Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average of $25.54 and a 200 day moving average of $28.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.13 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

About Peabody Energy

Peabody Energy Corp. is a global coal producer and supplier of energy and industrial fuels. The company mines, processes and markets thermal coal, which is primarily used for electricity generation, and metallurgical coal, which is used in steelmaking. Peabody also provides coal-trading and logistics services and works with customers to transport products to domestic and international markets.

Peabody operates mines in the United States and Australia, serving electric utilities, steel producers and other industrial customers.