Knife River (NYSE:KNF) Trading Up 6.3% – Should You Buy?

Knife River Co. (NYSE:KNF) shares shot up 6.3% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $106.48 and last traded at $106.33. 118,734 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 70% from the average session volume of 389,647 shares. The stock had previously closed at $100.03.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on KNF shares. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Knife River from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Loop Capital lowered their price target on shares of Knife River from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price on Knife River from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.33.

Knife River Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a current ratio of 2.72. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $98.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $84.53. The firm has a market cap of $5.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.70.

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

Institutional Trading of Knife River

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in KNF. Angeles Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Knife River by 1.5% during the third quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $760,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC increased its position in shares of Knife River by 18.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 960 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in Knife River by 13.2% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,288 shares of the company’s stock valued at $115,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in 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 buying an additional 176 shares during the period. Finally, LVW Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Knife River by 3.3% during the third quarter. LVW Advisors LLC now owns 6,027 shares of the company’s stock worth $539,000 after buying an additional 195 shares during the period. 80.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.