Unison Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 24,762 Peabody Energy Corporation $BTU

Unison Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Peabody Energy Corporation (NYSE:BTU) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 24,762 shares of the coal producer’s stock, valued at approximately $735,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 104.3% in the second quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,006 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 1,024 shares in the last quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC increased its position in Peabody Energy by 763.4% during the 3rd quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 1,131 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in Peabody Energy by 258.7% in the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,607 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 1,159 shares during the last quarter. Caitlin John LLC acquired a new position in Peabody Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $61,000. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its holdings in Peabody Energy by 880.4% in the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,647 shares of the coal producer’s stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 2,377 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BTU has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Peabody Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Peabody Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Peabody Energy from $34.50 to $36.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. B. Riley Financial lowered their target price on shares of Peabody Energy from $43.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Peabody Energy from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.63.

Peabody Energy Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of BTU stock opened at $33.50 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $34.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.40. Peabody Energy Corporation has a 1-year low of $9.61 and a 1-year high of $41.14. The firm has a market cap of $4.08 billion, a P/E ratio of -74.44 and a beta of 0.63.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The coal producer reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. Peabody Energy had a negative net margin of 1.37% and a negative return on equity of 0.93%. Peabody Energy’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.25 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Peabody Energy Corporation will post 2.61 EPS for the current year.

Peabody Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 23rd. Peabody Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently -66.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Darren Ronald Yeates sold 13,892 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.40, for a total value of $505,668.80. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 113,440 shares in the company, valued at $4,129,216. This trade represents a 10.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Scott T. Jarboe sold 2,151 shares of Peabody Energy stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.26, for a total value of $73,693.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 82,306 shares in the company, valued at $2,819,803.56. This represents a 2.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Peabody Energy Company Profile

Peabody Energy Corporation is one of the world’s largest private-sector coal companies, engaged primarily in the production and sale of metallurgical and thermal coal. The company’s operations span surface and underground mines, serving utilities, steel mills and other industrial customers that rely on coal as an essential component in power generation and steelmaking. Peabody’s product portfolio includes high-energy thermal coal for electricity generation and low-volatile metallurgical coal used in steel production, reflecting its diverse end-market reach.

Founded in 1883, Peabody Energy has grown from a regional mining concern into a global energy supplier.