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

Knife River Co. (NYSE:KNF) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,570,000 shares, a growth of 7.5% from the August 15th total of 1,460,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 383,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.1 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Knife River

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in Knife River in the second quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Creative Planning lifted its stake in Knife River by 36.3% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 5,872 shares of the company’s stock valued at $412,000 after purchasing an additional 1,565 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC purchased a new position in Knife River in the second quarter valued at approximately $379,000. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC purchased a new position in Knife River in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,688,000. Finally, Shellback Capital LP lifted its position in shares of Knife River by 28.3% during the second quarter. Shellback Capital LP now owns 321,323 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,538,000 after acquiring an additional 70,801 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Stephens began coverage on Knife River in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $85.00 target price for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Knife River has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.60.

Knife River Stock Performance

KNF stock opened at $87.62 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $4.96 billion, a PE ratio of 28.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a quick ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The business has a 50 day moving average of $76.59 and a 200-day moving average of $75.51. Knife River has a 12-month low of $46.51 and a 12-month high of $88.24.

Knife River (NYSE:KNF) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.24 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $806.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $803.81 million. Knife River had a return on equity of 15.73% and a net margin of 6.88%. Knife River’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.00 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Knife River will post 3.72 earnings per share for the current 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.