Short Interest in Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU) Declines By 5.9%

Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 12,850,000 shares, a decrease of 5.9% from the November 15th total of 13,650,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,830,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.5 days.

Peabody Energy Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of Peabody Energy stock traded down $0.41 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $21.09. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 287,109 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,949,014. 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 company has a fifty day simple moving average of $25.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $23.84. The company has a market capitalization of $2.56 billion, a PE ratio of 5.69 and a beta of 0.95. Peabody Energy has a 52 week low of $20.21 and a 52 week high of $29.94.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The coal producer reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.16. Peabody Energy had a net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 14.74%. The company had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.80 EPS. Peabody Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Peabody Energy will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Peabody Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were issued a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. Peabody Energy’s payout ratio is presently 7.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Peabody Energy news, CFO Mark Spurbeck sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.52, for a total value of $295,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 65,710 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,939,759.20. The trade was a 13.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Peabody Energy

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Peabody Energy by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,897 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $183,000 after acquiring an additional 611 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Peabody Energy by 7.6% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 10,023 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $222,000 after buying an additional 709 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Peabody Energy by 43.0% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 3,350 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $89,000 after buying an additional 1,008 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Peabody Energy by 11,390.0% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,149 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 1,139 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Peabody Energy by 69.7% in the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,802 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $74,000 after buying an additional 1,151 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BTU. B. Riley upped their price objective on shares of Peabody Energy from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Benchmark upped their price objective 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, BMO Capital Markets raised 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 note on Monday.

Peabody Energy Company Profile

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.