Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) Downgraded by Zacks Research to “Strong Sell”

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) was downgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, Zacks reports.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Benchmark dropped their price objective on shares of Peabody Energy from $40.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Peabody Energy from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. B. Riley Financial raised Peabody Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $29.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Monday. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on Peabody Energy from $27.00 to $26.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Peabody Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $34.12.

Peabody Energy Price Performance

NYSE:BTU opened at $22.48 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $2.74 billion, a P/E ratio of -14.99 and a beta of 0.33. Peabody Energy has a one year low of $20.06 and a one year high of $41.14. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $26.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 1.46.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The coal producer reported ($0.74) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.38) by ($0.36). The company had revenue of $1 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. Peabody Energy had a negative net margin of 4.56% and a negative return on equity of 5.22%. Peabody Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.23) earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Peabody Energy will post 0.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Peabody Energy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BTU. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 387.1% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,556,305 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $35,982,000 after purchasing an additional 1,236,770 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Peabody Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at $22,393,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of Peabody Energy by 1,139.3% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 328,139 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $10,812,000 after buying an additional 301,661 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of Peabody Energy by 35.0% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 740,760 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $24,408,000 after buying an additional 192,153 shares during the period. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 279.2% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 148,965 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $4,908,000 after buying an additional 109,678 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.44% of the company’s stock.

Peabody Energy Company Profile

Peabody Energy Corp. is a global coal producer and supplier of energy and industrial fuels. The company mines, processes and markets thermal coal, which is primarily used for electricity generation, and metallurgical coal, which is used in steelmaking. Peabody also provides coal-trading and logistics services and works with customers to transport products to domestic and international markets.

Peabody operates mines in the United States and Australia, serving electric utilities, steel producers and other industrial customers.