Knife River Co. (NYSE:KNF) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Knife River Co. (NYSE:KNF) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,300,000 shares, an increase of 9.2% from the October 31st total of 1,190,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 376,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.4 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC grew its position in Knife River by 12.2% during the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 2,064,224 shares of the company’s stock valued at $144,785,000 after purchasing an additional 224,373 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Knife River by 1.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,003,069 shares of the company’s stock valued at $179,054,000 after buying an additional 34,646 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Knife River by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,337,273 shares of the company’s stock worth $119,561,000 after acquiring an additional 26,198 shares during the last quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Knife River by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC now owns 761,001 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,377,000 after acquiring an additional 38,152 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Knife River by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 699,333 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,513,000 after purchasing an additional 5,791 shares during the last quarter. 80.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on KNF shares. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Knife River from $85.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. DA Davidson raised their target price on Knife River from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Loop Capital reduced their price target on Knife River from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $93.67.

Knife River Trading Up 1.1 %

KNF stock traded up $1.14 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $103.52. The company had a trading volume of 276,001 shares, compared to its average volume of 381,813. The business has a 50 day moving average of $94.96 and a 200 day moving average of $82.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 1.91. The company has a market cap of $5.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.66, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.70. Knife River has a 52 week low of $60.04 and a 52 week high of $105.63.

Knife River (NYSE:KNF) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $2.60 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.82 by ($0.22). The firm had revenue of $1.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.12 billion. Knife River had a net margin of 6.89% and a return on equity of 15.22%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.58 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Knife River will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Knife River

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.