Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) Rating Lowered to Strong Sell at Zacks Research

Key Points

• Zacks Research downgraded Peabody Energy from “hold” to “strong sell,” despite mixed analyst opinions. MarketBeat reports an overall consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $34.12.
• Peabody shares opened at $22.48, down 3.6%, and remain well below their 50-day and 200-day moving averages. The stock’s 52-week range is $20.06 to $41.14.
• The company reported a quarterly loss of $0.74 per share, missing estimates by $0.36, although revenue rose 12.7% year over year to approximately $1 billion. Institutional investors own 87.44% of the stock.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU - Get Free Report) was downgraded by research analysts at Zacks Research from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report issued on Tuesday, Zacks reports.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on BTU. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Peabody Energy from a "sell (d)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a report on Friday, October 2nd. B. Riley Financial upgraded shares of Peabody Energy from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $29.00 to $30.00 in a report on Monday. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Peabody Energy from $27.00 to $26.50 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Benchmark lowered their target price on shares of Peabody Energy from $40.00 to $36.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $34.12.

Peabody Energy Stock Down 3.6%

BTU opened at $22.48 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.74 billion, a PE ratio of -14.99 and a beta of 0.33. The business has a 50-day moving average of $26.00 and a 200-day moving average of $28.29. Peabody Energy has a fifty-two week low of $20.06 and a fifty-two week high of $41.14. 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 - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The coal producer reported ($0.74) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.38) by ($0.36). The business had revenue of $1 billion for 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 was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.23) EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Peabody Energy will post 0.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Peabody Energy

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of BTU. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Peabody Energy by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,233,585 shares of the coal producer's stock worth $205,429,000 after acquiring an additional 54,072 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of Peabody Energy by 387.1% in 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 during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Peabody Energy during the 2nd quarter worth about $22,393,000. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 35.0% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 740,760 shares of the coal producer's stock worth $24,408,000 after purchasing an additional 192,153 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 591,021 shares of the coal producer's stock worth $19,474,000 after purchasing an additional 11,435 shares during the last quarter. 87.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Peabody Energy

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.

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