Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 15,352 Shares of Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its stake in Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU) by 2.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 593,570 shares of the coal producer’s stock after selling 15,352 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Peabody Energy were worth $15,753,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BTU. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Peabody Energy by 21.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,957,602 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $338,611,000 after buying an additional 2,473,286 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its holdings in shares of Peabody Energy by 9.2% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 7,348,251 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $178,118,000 after buying an additional 618,395 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Peabody Energy by 20.2% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,165,258 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $70,016,000 after purchasing an additional 531,440 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional bought a new position in Peabody Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,133,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Peabody Energy by 141.4% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 159,894 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $3,537,000 after purchasing an additional 93,667 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Peabody Energy

In other 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 65,710 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,939,759.20. The trade was a 13.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on BTU. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Peabody Energy from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Benchmark raised their target price 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, B. Riley lifted their price objective on shares of Peabody Energy from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th.

Peabody Energy Stock Down 1.1 %

BTU opened at $26.74 on Friday. Peabody Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $20.21 and a fifty-two week high of $29.94. 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 moving average of $25.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $23.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.07 and a beta of 0.98.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The coal producer reported $0.74 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.80 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Peabody Energy Co. will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Peabody Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th will be given a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.12%. Peabody Energy’s payout ratio 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.