Norges Bank Invests $32.75 Million in Knife River Corporation $KNF

Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Knife River Corporation (NYSE:KNF) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 465,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,753,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in Knife River by 284.9% in the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 6,390 shares of the company’s stock valued at $576,000 after acquiring an additional 4,730 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in Knife River in the 1st quarter valued at about $424,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its stake in Knife River by 16.8% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 227,565 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,529,000 after acquiring an additional 32,762 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Knife River by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,101,198 shares of the company’s stock valued at $171,542,000 after acquiring an additional 12,308 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. grew its stake in Knife River by 71.0% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 354,860 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,971,000 after acquiring an additional 147,387 shares during the last quarter. 80.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Stephens increased their price objective on shares of Knife River from $86.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Knife River from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Knife River from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of Knife River in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $95.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Knife River from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $97.29.

Knife River Price Performance

Knife River stock opened at $72.24 on Tuesday. Knife River Corporation has a 12-month low of $58.72 and a 12-month high of $95.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.41. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $81.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $79.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 1.31.

Knife River (NYSE:KNF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported ($1.40) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.42) by $0.02. Knife River had a net margin of 4.58% and a return on equity of 9.35%. The company had revenue of $410.13 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $387.06 million. During the same period last year, the company earned ($1.21) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Knife River Corporation will post 3.32 earnings per share for the current year.

About Knife River

Knife River Corporation, headquartered in Bismarck, North Dakota, is a leading integrated construction materials and contracting company in the western United States. The company specializes in producing and supplying aggregates, asphalt mix, ready-mixed concrete and other heavy construction materials used in highway, commercial and residential projects.

In addition to material production, Knife River offers a comprehensive suite of contracting services, including heavy civil construction, road building, underground and open-pit mining and logistics support.