Knife River Corporation (NYSE:KNF) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Knife River Corporation (NYSE:KNF) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the ten ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have issued a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $97.2857.

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on Knife River in a research report on Thursday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $95.00 target price for the company. Weiss Ratings upgraded Knife River from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Stephens boosted their target price on Knife River from $86.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” 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 report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Knife River from $81.00 to $80.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th.

Knife River Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:KNF opened at $78.59 on Monday. Knife River has a 1 year low of $58.72 and a 1 year high of $96.12. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $82.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $79.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.46 billion, a PE ratio of 30.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 1.31.

Knife River (NYSE:KNF) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported ($1.40) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.42) by $0.02. Knife River had a return on equity of 9.35% and a net margin of 4.58%.The business had revenue of $410.13 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $387.06 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($1.21) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Knife River will post 3.32 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Knife River

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of KNF. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in shares of Knife River by 284.9% in the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 6,390 shares of the company’s stock valued at $576,000 after purchasing an additional 4,730 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Knife River in the first quarter valued at approximately $424,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Knife River by 16.8% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 227,565 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,529,000 after purchasing an additional 32,762 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 12,308 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Knife River by 71.0% in the second quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 354,860 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,971,000 after purchasing an additional 147,387 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.11% of the company’s stock.

About Knife River

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.