Jefferies Financial Group Downgrades Arch Resources (NYSE:ARCH) to Hold

Arch Resources (NYSE:ARCH) was downgraded by analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $165.00 price objective on the energy company’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $155.00. Jefferies Financial Group’s target price would suggest a potential downside of 0.33% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on ARCH. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 target price on shares of Arch Resources in a report on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Arch Resources in a research note on Monday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, B. Riley decreased their price target on shares of Arch Resources from $198.00 to $188.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Arch Resources presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $173.60.

Arch Resources Price Performance

Shares of ARCH stock traded up $2.10 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $165.55. The company had a trading volume of 11,731 shares, compared to its average volume of 402,327. Arch Resources has a 52-week low of $116.44 and a 52-week high of $187.60. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $140.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $147.51. The company has a market capitalization of $3.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.17 and a beta of 0.59.

Arch Resources (NYSE:ARCH) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The energy company reported ($0.34) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.83 by ($2.17). Arch Resources had a return on equity of 13.22% and a net margin of 6.69%. The company had revenue of $617.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $587.71 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.91 EPS. Arch Resources’s quarterly revenue was down 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Arch Resources will post 5.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arch Resources

In other news, VP Deck Slone sold 253 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.75, for a total value of $36,621.75. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 29,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,215,120. This represents a 0.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 5.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARCH. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Arch Resources by 13.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,347,568 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $377,465,000 after buying an additional 286,359 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Arch Resources by 13.6% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,001,093 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $152,396,000 after buying an additional 119,505 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Arch Resources by 6.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 973,208 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $148,146,000 after buying an additional 58,821 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Arch Resources by 159.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 657,654 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $90,862,000 after buying an additional 404,249 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. lifted its position in shares of Arch Resources by 3.0% during the first quarter. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. now owns 522,439 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $84,003,000 after buying an additional 15,000 shares during the last quarter. 88.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Arch Resources

Arch Resources, Inc engages in the production and sale of metallurgical products. It operates in two segments, Metallurgical and Thermal. The company operates active mines. It owned or controlled primarily through long-term leases of coal land in Ohio, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Wyoming, Kentucky, Montana, Pennsylvania, Colorado, and Illinois; and smaller parcels of property in Alabama, Indiana, Washington, Arkansas, California, Utah, and Texas.