Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU) Shares Bought by Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU) by 105.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 646,152 shares of the coal producer’s stock after buying an additional 331,759 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Peabody Energy were worth $13,530,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of BTU. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Peabody Energy by 265,937.3% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 8,023,686 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $212,949,000 after buying an additional 8,020,670 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Peabody Energy by 7.6% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Progeny 3 Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 56,280 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Peabody Energy by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,918,536 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $77,473,000 after buying an additional 216,887 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Peabody Energy by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,422,400 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $29,785,000 after buying an additional 125,372 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BTU has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group 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 Monday, January 6th. Benchmark dropped their target price on shares of Peabody Energy from $30.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Peabody Energy from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $26.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th.

Peabody Energy Stock Performance

Shares of BTU stock opened at $13.36 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. Peabody Energy Co. has a 52 week low of $12.15 and a 52 week high of $29.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.62 billion, a PE ratio of 4.95 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $16.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $21.44.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The coal producer reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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, research analysts predict that Peabody Energy Co. will post 2.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Peabody Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th were given a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.25%. Peabody Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.