Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Decreases Stake in Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lowered its position in Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU) by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,255,206 shares of the coal producer’s stock after selling 107,781 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 5.70% of Peabody Energy worth $160,481,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in BTU. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Peabody Energy by 21.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,957,602 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $338,611,000 after buying an additional 2,473,286 shares in the last quarter. Thomist Capital Management LP grew its holdings in Peabody Energy by 483.0% during the 1st quarter. Thomist Capital Management LP now owns 2,024,769 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $49,121,000 after buying an additional 1,677,448 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Peabody Energy by 4,386.6% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 646,648 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $15,688,000 after buying an additional 632,235 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its holdings in Peabody Energy by 9.2% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 7,348,251 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $178,118,000 after buying an additional 618,395 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Peabody Energy by 20.2% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,165,258 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $70,016,000 after purchasing an additional 531,440 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, B. Riley boosted their price objective on Peabody Energy from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday.

Peabody Energy Stock Up 4.8 %

Shares of NYSE BTU opened at $23.91 on Friday. Peabody Energy Co. has a 12 month low of $20.21 and a 12 month high of $27.24. The company has a current ratio of 2.49, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.95. The business has a 50-day moving average of $22.43 and a 200-day moving average of $23.10.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The coal producer reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.90. The company had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1 billion. Peabody Energy had a return on equity of 15.35% and a net margin of 12.69%. Sell-side analysts expect that Peabody Energy Co. will post 3.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Peabody Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th were given a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.25%. Peabody Energy’s payout ratio is 8.36%.

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.