Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU)

Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors purchased 16,617 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 59% compared to the average daily volume of 10,476 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on BTU shares. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Peabody Energy from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $26.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Benchmark increased their price target on shares of Peabody Energy from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Peabody Energy from $30.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Mark Spurbeck sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.52, for a total value of $295,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 65,710 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,939,759.20. This trade represents a 13.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Peabody Energy

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Peabody Energy by 113.5% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,350,855 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $28,287,000 after buying an additional 718,274 shares in the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Peabody Energy during the fourth quarter worth approximately $194,000. Adams Asset Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Peabody Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,361,000. CWA Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Peabody Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $368,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Peabody Energy by 79.2% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 175,424 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $4,693,000 after acquiring an additional 77,525 shares during the last quarter. 87.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Peabody Energy Trading Up 1.3 %

Peabody Energy stock traded up $0.25 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $18.92. 1,792,990 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,210,826. Peabody Energy has a fifty-two week low of $17.73 and a fifty-two week high of $29.94. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $22.80 and its 200-day moving average is $23.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 2.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.00 and a beta of 0.99.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The coal producer reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.07 billion. Peabody Energy had a net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 14.74%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.80 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Peabody Energy will post 2.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Peabody Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were paid a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.59%. Peabody Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.94%.

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.