Knife River (NYSE:KNF) Reaches New 1-Year Low on Analyst Downgrade

Knife River Corporation (NYSE:KNF)’s share price reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Tuesday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on the stock from $73.00 to $63.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an underweight rating on the stock. Knife River traded as low as $48.80 and last traded at $49.13, with a volume of 27,258 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $49.44.

Several other analysts also recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of Knife River from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 24th. B. Riley Financial reduced their price target on shares of Knife River from $105.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 25th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Knife River from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 9th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Knife River in a research note on Monday, August 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Knife River from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Knife River currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $69.29.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Knife River

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Knife River by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,464,690 shares of the company’s stock worth $119,579,000 after buying an additional 73,028 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in shares of Knife River by 19.0% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 392,534 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,050,000 after acquiring an additional 62,592 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor purchased a new position in Knife River during the second quarter valued at $21,242,000. Gabelli Funds LLC grew its position in shares of Knife River by 8.8% during the first quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 123,530 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,086,000 after purchasing an additional 9,990 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank lifted its position in shares of Knife River by 0.4% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 112,098 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,153,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. 80.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Knife River Stock Down 2.1%

The company has a current ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $58.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $73.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.46.

Knife River (NYSE:KNF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by ($0.36). Knife River had a return on equity of 8.73% and a net margin of 4.23%. The company had revenue of $938.59 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $931.39 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.89 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Knife River Corporation will post 2.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Knife River

Knife River Corporation is a construction materials and contracting company serving public and private infrastructure markets across the western and north-central United States. The company produces and supplies essential construction materials, including crushed stone, sand and gravel, ready-mix concrete, asphalt and related products.

In addition to materials production, Knife River provides construction services such as asphalt paving, concrete construction, site development, excavation and other heavy civil work.