Brokerages Set Knife River Corporation (NYSE:KNF) Price Target at $96.43

Shares of Knife River Corporation (NYSE:KNF) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $96.4286.

KNF has been the topic of several recent research reports. DA Davidson increased their target price on Knife River from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Knife River from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Knife River in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Knife River from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $75.00 to $81.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Knife River from $106.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th.

Knife River Trading Down 0.5%

NYSE KNF opened at $88.93 on Friday. Knife River has a one year low of $58.72 and a one year high of $103.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 2.54. The company has a market capitalization of $5.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.47. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $78.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $75.69.

Knife River (NYSE:KNF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 17th. The company reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $755.06 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $726.60 million. Knife River had a net margin of 4.99% and a return on equity of 10.27%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.41 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Knife River will post 4.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Knife River

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Knife River by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,915,131 shares of the company’s stock worth $275,431,000 after purchasing an additional 123,594 shares in the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. purchased a new stake in Knife River in the third quarter valued at about $169,020,000. State Street Corp raised its stake in Knife River by 0.6% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,101,198 shares of the company’s stock valued at $171,542,000 after buying an additional 12,308 shares during the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC boosted its holdings in Knife River by 57.7% in the fourth quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 1,774,284 shares of the company’s stock worth $124,821,000 after acquiring an additional 648,979 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Knife River by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,417,408 shares of the company’s stock worth $99,730,000 after acquiring an additional 9,125 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.11% of the company’s stock.

Knife River Company Profile

Knife River Corporation, headquartered in Bismarck, North Dakota, is a leading integrated construction materials and contracting company in the western United States. The company specializes in producing and supplying aggregates, asphalt mix, ready-mixed concrete and other heavy construction materials used in highway, commercial and residential projects.

In addition to material production, Knife River offers a comprehensive suite of contracting services, including heavy civil construction, road building, underground and open-pit mining and logistics support.