Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.08

Peabody Energy Co. (NYSE:BTU) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 6th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be given a dividend of 0.075 per share by the coal producer on Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th.

Peabody Energy has a dividend payout ratio of 9.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Peabody Energy to earn $2.34 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.30 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 12.8%.

Peabody Energy Price Performance

NYSE BTU opened at $16.43 on Friday. Peabody Energy has a 1 year low of $16.34 and a 1 year high of $29.94. The company has a market cap of $2.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.35 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 2.32 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $20.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $22.89.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The coal producer reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.25). Peabody Energy had a return on equity of 14.74% and a net margin of 12.24%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Peabody Energy will post 2.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BTU has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Benchmark upped their price objective on shares of Peabody Energy from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on Peabody Energy from $30.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised Peabody Energy from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $26.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th.

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.