Yaupon Capital Management LP Purchases New Shares in Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU)

Yaupon Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 319,661 shares of the coal producer’s stock, valued at approximately $8,484,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Peabody Energy by 265,937.3% during the 3rd 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 period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Peabody Energy by 7.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,631,707 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $202,546,000 after purchasing an additional 540,219 shares during the last quarter. Progeny 3 Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Peabody Energy by 1.6% during the third 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. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 20.2% in the 2nd 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. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Peabody Energy by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,190,141 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $48,446,000 after buying an additional 26,202 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BTU has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Peabody Energy from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. B. Riley lifted their price target on 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 increased their price objective on shares of Peabody Energy from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Mark Spurbeck sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.52, for a total value of $295,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 65,710 shares in the company, valued at $1,939,759.20. The trade was a 13.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Peabody Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BTU opened at $22.38 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 2.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $25.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $23.89. Peabody Energy Co. has a 52-week low of $20.21 and a 52-week high of $29.94. The company has a market cap of $2.72 billion, a PE ratio of 5.92 and a beta of 0.95.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.80 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Peabody Energy Co. will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

Peabody Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were issued a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. Peabody Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.