Traders Buy Large Volume of Peabody Energy Put Options (NYSE:BTU)

Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders bought 23,268 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 92% compared to the typical daily volume of 12,106 put options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on BTU. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Peabody Energy from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. B. Riley increased their price target on shares of Peabody Energy from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Benchmark lifted their price objective on shares of Peabody Energy from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st.

Insider Activity at Peabody Energy

In related news, CFO Mark Spurbeck sold 10,000 shares of Peabody Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.52, for a total value of $295,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 65,710 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,939,759.20. This trade represents a 13.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Peabody Energy

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Peabody Energy by 265,937.3% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 8,023,686 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $212,949,000 after purchasing an additional 8,020,670 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 21.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,957,602 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $338,611,000 after buying an additional 2,473,286 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in shares of Peabody Energy by 9.2% in 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. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,631,707 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $202,546,000 after buying an additional 540,219 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in Peabody Energy by 20.2% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,165,258 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $70,016,000 after acquiring an additional 531,440 shares in the last quarter. 87.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Peabody Energy Stock Performance

Shares of BTU opened at $24.08 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $25.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 2.32. Peabody Energy has a 1 year low of $20.21 and a 1 year high of $29.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.93 billion, a PE ratio of 6.37 and a beta of 0.98.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The coal producer reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.16. Peabody Energy had a net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 14.74%. The company had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.07 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.80 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Peabody Energy will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Peabody Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th will be issued a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 14th. Peabody Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.94%.

About Peabody Energy

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.