Hancock Whitney Corp Acquires New Stake in Knife River Co. (NYSE:KNF)

Hancock Whitney Corp bought a new position in shares of Knife River Co. (NYSE:KNF) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 12,157 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,087,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Knife River during the 1st quarter worth approximately $9,730,000. Bayesian Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Knife River in the 1st quarter valued at about $687,000. Comerica Bank increased its stake in shares of Knife River by 59.2% during the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 42,635 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,457,000 after buying an additional 15,848 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Knife River by 311.5% in the second quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 14,381 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,009,000 after acquiring an additional 10,886 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ausbil Investment Management Ltd grew its holdings in Knife River by 599.5% during the 3rd quarter. Ausbil Investment Management Ltd now owns 19,579 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,750,000 after acquiring an additional 16,780 shares in the last quarter. 80.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on KNF. DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Knife River from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Knife River from $85.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Loop Capital dropped their price target on shares of Knife River from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Knife River presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $93.67.

Knife River Stock Up 0.5 %

KNF stock opened at $104.62 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 1.91. The company has a market cap of $5.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.74. Knife River Co. has a 12 month low of $58.31 and a 12 month high of $105.44. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $93.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $81.08.

Knife River (NYSE:KNF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $2.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.82 by ($0.22). Knife River had a return on equity of 15.22% and a net margin of 6.89%. The company had revenue of $1.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.58 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Knife River Co. will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current year.

About Knife River

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.