Chesapeake Capital Corp IL Buys Shares of 18,765 Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU)

Chesapeake Capital Corp IL bought a new stake in shares of Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 18,765 shares of the coal producer’s stock, valued at approximately $455,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,147,834 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $173,838,000 after buying an additional 273,768 shares during the period. Boston Partners boosted its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 6,729,856 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $163,968,000 after buying an additional 437,585 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 0.4% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,163,939 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $52,497,000 after buying an additional 9,404 shares during the period. Thomist Capital Management LP boosted its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 483.0% during the first 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 during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 4,386.6% during the first 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 during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.44% of the company’s stock.

Peabody Energy Stock Down 0.6 %

NYSE BTU traded down $0.14 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $23.03. 1,591,077 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,561,518. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 2.36 and a quick ratio of 1.86. The company has a market cap of $2.93 billion, a PE ratio of 6.42 and a beta of 0.97. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $23.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $24.01. Peabody Energy Co. has a 52 week low of $21.00 and a 52 week high of $27.24.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The coal producer reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.30. The business had revenue of $983.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $980.03 million. Peabody Energy had a return on equity of 14.98% and a net margin of 11.62%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 27.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.69 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Peabody Energy Co. will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Peabody Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th were given a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.30%. Peabody Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on BTU. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Peabody Energy from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. B. Riley dropped their price objective on Peabody Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective on shares of Peabody Energy in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $28.25.

Peabody Energy Company 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.