HighTower Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in Knife River Co. (NYSE:KNF)

HighTower Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Knife River Co. (NYSE:KNF) by 6.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 9,090 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 590 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Knife River were worth $924,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Knife River in the fourth quarter valued at about $14,600,000. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Knife River in the 3rd quarter valued at about $10,267,000. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Knife River by 156.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 170,101 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,205,000 after buying an additional 103,713 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Knife River by 31.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 209,136 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,695,000 after buying an additional 49,785 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp purchased a new position in shares of Knife River in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,201,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on KNF shares. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of Knife River in a report on Friday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Knife River in a research note on Monday, March 10th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $102.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Knife River from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, Knife River currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $110.40.

Knife River Trading Down 3.1 %

Shares of Knife River stock opened at $92.94 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $97.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $96.62. Knife River Co. has a 12-month low of $66.13 and a 12-month high of $108.83. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market cap of $5.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.25, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.88.

Knife River (NYSE:KNF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $657.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $655.80 million. Knife River had a net margin of 6.96% and a return on equity of 14.82%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Knife River Co. will post 4.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Knife River Profile

Knife River Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides aggregates- led construction materials and contracting services in the United States. It operates through Pacific, Northwest, Mountain, Central, and Energy Services segments. The company mines, processes, and sells construction aggregates, including crushed stone and sand, and gravel; and produces and sells asphalt and ready-mix concrete.