Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Sells 231,985 Shares of Peabody Energy Corporation (NYSE:BTU)

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group Inc. significantly reduced its stake in Peabody Energy, selling 231,985 shares and holding only 14,515 shares thereafter, representing a 94.1% decrease in its position.
• Peabody Energy plans to pay a quarterly dividend of $0.075 per share on September 3rd, with an annual yield of 1.7%.
• Despite a drop in quarterly earnings to ($0.06) EPS and revenue growth declining by 14.6% year-over-year, Peabody Energy maintains a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" among analysts.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. reduced its position in shares of Peabody Energy Corporation (NYSE:BTU - Free Report) by 94.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,515 shares of the coal producer's stock after selling 231,985 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Peabody Energy were worth $197,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Peabody Energy by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,346,729 shares of the coal producer's stock worth $153,841,000 after buying an additional 88,466 shares in the last quarter. Progeny 3 Inc. increased its position in Peabody Energy by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Progeny 3 Inc. now owns 3,620,014 shares of the coal producer's stock worth $75,803,000 after acquiring an additional 40,000 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Peabody Energy by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,620,897 shares of the coal producer's stock worth $33,942,000 after purchasing an additional 33,742 shares in the last quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in Peabody Energy by 30.4% in the 4th quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP now owns 1,543,915 shares of the coal producer's stock valued at $32,330,000 after purchasing an additional 360,000 shares during the period. Finally, Long Focus Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 27.3% during the 4th quarter. Long Focus Capital Management LLC now owns 910,058 shares of the coal producer's stock worth $19,057,000 after purchasing an additional 195,000 shares in the last quarter. 87.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Benchmark dropped their price target on shares of Peabody Energy from $26.00 to $23.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. UBS Group started coverage on Peabody Energy in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $14.00 price objective for the company. B. Riley reduced their target price on Peabody Energy from $27.00 to $19.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Peabody Energy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $21.60.

Peabody Energy Stock Performance

Peabody Energy stock opened at $17.23 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 2.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock has a market cap of $2.10 billion, a PE ratio of 16.73 and a beta of 0.53. Peabody Energy Corporation has a 12-month low of $9.61 and a 12-month high of $29.94. The business's 50-day moving average price is $14.72 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $14.41.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The coal producer reported ($0.06) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $890.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $944.27 million. Peabody Energy had a net margin of 3.43% and a return on equity of 4.41%. Peabody Energy's revenue for the quarter was down 14.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.42 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Peabody Energy Corporation will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Peabody Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 14th will be given a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 14th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. Peabody Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.13%.

Peabody Energy Profile

Peabody Energy Corporation engages in coal mining business in the United States, Japan, Taiwan, Australia, India, Brazil, Belgium, Chile, France, Indonesia, China, Vietnam, South Korea, Germany, and internationally. The company operates through Seaborne Thermal, Seaborne Metallurgical, Powder River Basin, Other U.S.

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