Allianz Asset Management GmbH Purchases 13,609 Shares of Peabody Energy Corporation $BTU

Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its position in Peabody Energy Corporation (NYSE:BTU) by 4.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 297,945 shares of the coal producer’s stock after buying an additional 13,609 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH’s holdings in Peabody Energy were worth $3,998,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Long Focus Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 96.7% in the 1st quarter. Long Focus Capital Management LLC now owns 1,789,858 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $24,253,000 after purchasing an additional 879,800 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 117.6% in the 1st quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,406,307 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $19,055,000 after purchasing an additional 760,155 shares during the last quarter. Drummond Knight Asset Management Pty Ltd bought a new position in shares of Peabody Energy in the 1st quarter worth $9,196,000. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Peabody Energy in the 1st quarter worth $9,083,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Peabody Energy by 698.4% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 738,425 shares of the coal producer’s stock worth $10,006,000 after purchasing an additional 645,934 shares during the last quarter. 87.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on BTU shares. B. Riley raised their price target on Peabody Energy from $18.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Peabody Energy in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group raised their price target on Peabody Energy from $17.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Peabody Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.20.

Peabody Energy Stock Performance

Shares of Peabody Energy stock opened at $29.02 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.53 billion, a PE ratio of 28.17 and a beta of 0.67. Peabody Energy Corporation has a 12 month low of $9.61 and a 12 month high of $35.99. The company has a current ratio of 2.21, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $23.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.44.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The coal producer reported ($0.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by ($0.02). Peabody Energy had a net margin of 3.43% and a return on equity of 4.41%. The firm had revenue of $890.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $944.27 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.42 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Peabody Energy Corporation will post 2.61 EPS for the current year.

Peabody Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 14th were paid a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 14th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Peabody Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.13%.

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.