Rhumbline Advisers Grows Holdings in Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU)

Rhumbline Advisers grew its stake in shares of Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU) by 2.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 327,601 shares of the coal producer’s stock after buying an additional 7,586 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers owned 0.27% of Peabody Energy worth $6,860,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Peabody Energy by 265,937.3% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 8,023,686 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $212,949,000 after acquiring an additional 8,020,670 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings 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 worth $202,546,000 after purchasing an additional 540,219 shares in the last quarter. Progeny 3 Inc. increased its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Progeny 3 Inc. now owns 3,580,014 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $95,014,000 after purchasing an additional 56,280 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Peabody Energy by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,918,536 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $77,473,000 after buying an additional 216,887 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Peabody Energy by 14.1% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,388,681 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $36,856,000 after buying an additional 171,272 shares during the last quarter. 87.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BTU has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Peabody Energy from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $26.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Benchmark reduced their target price on shares of Peabody Energy from $30.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Peabody Energy from $30.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th.

Peabody Energy Price Performance

Shares of Peabody Energy stock opened at $14.42 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.34 and a beta of 0.95. Peabody Energy Co. has a one year low of $14.30 and a one year high of $29.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 1.68. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $18.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $22.35.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The coal producer reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.25). Peabody Energy had a net margin of 8.75% and a return on equity of 10.33%. Analysts forecast that Peabody Energy Co. will post 2.61 EPS for the current year.

Peabody Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.08%. Peabody Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.11%.

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.