Peabody Energy Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:BTU)

Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU) saw unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Stock investors purchased 49,189 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 314% compared to the average volume of 11,889 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on BTU shares. B. Riley lifted their target price on Peabody Energy from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Peabody Energy from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday.

Institutional Trading of Peabody Energy

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BTU. Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Peabody Energy in the 4th quarter worth $5,208,000. Rheos Capital Works Inc. lifted its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 189.8% during the first quarter. Rheos Capital Works Inc. now owns 579,500 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $14,059,000 after purchasing an additional 379,500 shares in the last quarter. Range Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Peabody Energy in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $224,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 552.7% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 166,651 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $4,043,000 after acquiring an additional 141,118 shares during the period. Finally, Denali Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Peabody Energy by 11.7% in the first quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 113,225 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $2,747,000 after acquiring an additional 11,825 shares in the last quarter. 87.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Peabody Energy Stock Performance

Shares of Peabody Energy stock traded down $0.43 during trading on Monday, hitting $26.68. 888,995 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,037,911. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.42 and a beta of 0.96. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $23.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 2.49. Peabody Energy has a 52-week low of $20.21 and a 52-week high of $27.24.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The coal producer reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.90. Peabody Energy had a net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 15.35%. The firm had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Peabody Energy will post 2.98 EPS for the current year.

Peabody Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.12%. Peabody Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.36%.

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.