Equities researchers at RBC Capital assumed coverage on shares of Walter Energy (NYSE: WLT) in a report issued on Wednesday. The firm set a “sector perform” rating and a $34.00 price target on the stock.

Walter Energy opened at 29.76 on Wednesday. Walter Energy has a 1-year low of $28.01 and a 1-year high of $69.41. The stock’s 50-day moving average is currently $35.95. The company’s market cap is $1.862 billion.

Walter Energy last released its earnings data on Wednesday, February 20th. The company reported ($1.13) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the analysts’ consensus estimate of ($0.93) by $0.20. The company had revenue of $478.78 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $511.31 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.34 earnings per share. Walter Energy’s revenue was down 31.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Walter Energy will post $-0.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on WLT. Analysts at Iberia Capital upgraded shares of Walter Energy from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note to investors on Wednesday, February 27th. They now have a $40.00 price target on the stock. Separately, analysts at Zacks reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Walter Energy in a research note to investors on Friday, February 22nd. They now have a $36.00 price target on the stock. Finally, analysts at UBS AG cut their price target on shares of Walter Energy from $43.00 to $38.00 in a research note to investors on Friday, February 22nd. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.

Eight analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, one has given an overweight rating, nine have issued a hold rating, one has assigned an underweight rating, and two have issued a sell rating to the company. The stock has a consensus rating of “overweight” and a consensus target price of $38.79.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which is scheduled for Tuesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 15th.

Walter Energy, Inc. is a producer and exporter of metallurgical coal for the global steel industry and also produces steam coal, coal bed methane gas (natural gas), metallurgical coke and other related products.

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