State of Alaska Department of Revenue Acquires 21,206 Shares of Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU)

State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its holdings in shares of Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU) by 15.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 162,030 shares of the coal producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 21,206 shares during the quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue owned about 0.13% of Peabody Energy worth $3,391,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Peabody Energy by 265,937.3% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 8,023,686 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $212,949,000 after purchasing an additional 8,020,670 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in Peabody Energy by 7.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,631,707 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $202,546,000 after buying an additional 540,219 shares in the last quarter. Progeny 3 Inc. increased its stake in Peabody Energy by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Progeny 3 Inc. now owns 3,580,014 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $95,014,000 after acquiring an additional 56,280 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Peabody Energy by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,918,536 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $77,473,000 after acquiring an additional 216,887 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 14.1% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,388,681 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $36,856,000 after acquiring an additional 171,272 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Peabody Energy from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $26.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Peabody Energy from $30.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Benchmark cut their price target on shares of Peabody Energy from $30.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday.

Peabody Energy Price Performance

Shares of BTU stock opened at $15.91 on Monday. Peabody Energy Co. has a twelve month low of $15.79 and a twelve month high of $29.94. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $20.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.80. The company has a market cap of $1.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.89 and a beta of 0.95.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The coal producer reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.25). Peabody Energy had a net margin of 8.75% and a return on equity of 10.33%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Peabody Energy Co. will post 2.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Peabody Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.89%. Peabody Energy’s payout ratio is presently 11.11%.

About Peabody Energy

Peabody Energy Corporation engages in coal mining business in the United States, Japan, Taiwan, Australia, India, Brazil, Belgium, Chile, France, Indonesia, China, Vietnam, South Korea, Germany, and internationally. The company operates through Seaborne Thermal, Seaborne Metallurgical, Powder River Basin, Other U.S.