Stephens Issues Positive Forecast for Knife River (NYSE:KNF) Stock Price

Key Points

• Stephens raised its Knife River price target from $65 to $70 and maintained an “overweight” rating, implying 14.68% upside from the prior close.
• Analyst views are mixed: MarketBeat reports an average “Hold” rating and a $67.86 average target, with recent targets ranging from $58 to $85.
• Knife River’s latest quarter fell short of expectations, reporting EPS of $2.43 versus $2.58 forecast and revenue of $1.28 billion versus $1.30 billion; revenue nevertheless grew 6% year over year.

Knife River (NYSE:KNF - Get Free Report) had its price target upped by Stephens from $65.00 to $70.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "overweight" rating on the stock. Stephens's price objective would indicate a potential upside of 14.68% from the stock's previous close.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered Knife River from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $103.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, October 9th. DA Davidson started coverage on Knife River in a report on Monday, August 24th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $85.00 price target for the company. B. Riley Financial dropped their price target on Knife River from $105.00 to $65.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Knife River from $73.00 to $63.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Knife River from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $67.86.

Knife River Trading Down 1.9%

KNF opened at $61.04 on Thursday. The firm's fifty day moving average is $55.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $73.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a current ratio of 2.73. The firm has a market cap of $3.46 billion, a PE ratio of 26.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.40. Knife River has a twelve month low of $47.79 and a twelve month high of $96.28.

Knife River (NYSE:KNF - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 3rd. The company reported $2.43 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.58 by ($0.15). Knife River had a return on equity of 8.22% and a net margin of 3.98%. The firm had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.52 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Knife River will post 2.55 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Knife River

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Knife River by 5.2% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,464,690 shares of the company's stock valued at $119,579,000 after buying an additional 73,028 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in Knife River by 19.0% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 392,534 shares of the company's stock worth $32,050,000 after buying an additional 62,592 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor bought a new stake in Knife River during the second quarter worth $21,242,000. Gabelli Funds LLC raised its position in Knife River by 8.8% during the first quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 123,530 shares of the company's stock worth $10,086,000 after acquiring an additional 9,990 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank raised its position in Knife River by 0.4% during the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 112,098 shares of the company's stock worth $9,153,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.11% of the company's stock.

About Knife River

Knife River Corporation is a construction materials and contracting company headquartered in Bismarck, North Dakota. The company produces and sells construction aggregates, asphalt, ready-mix concrete and cement, and also provides related construction services for transportation, commercial, residential and industrial projects.

Its operations include aggregate mining and processing, asphalt and concrete production, paving, site development and other heavy-construction activities. Knife River serves public-sector and private-sector customers, including state and local governments, contractors, commercial developers and industrial businesses.

Knife River became an independent publicly traded company in 2023 after being spun off from MDU Resources Group.

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