Analysts Set Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) PT at $58.00

Shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) have received an average rating of “Reduce” from the five ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $58.00.

BKH has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Mizuho lifted their target price on Black Hills from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Black Hills from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on Black Hills from $54.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th.

Institutional Trading of Black Hills

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in Black Hills by 4.1% in the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 4,736 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $258,000 after buying an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management lifted its position in Black Hills by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 4,988 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $269,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Uncommon Cents Investing LLC lifted its position in Black Hills by 2.0% in the first quarter. Uncommon Cents Investing LLC now owns 10,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $585,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its position in Black Hills by 0.3% in the first quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 85,382 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,662,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lesa Sroufe & Co lifted its position in Black Hills by 0.5% in the second quarter. Lesa Sroufe & Co now owns 43,294 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,354,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.71% of the company’s stock.

Black Hills Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of Black Hills stock opened at $59.39 on Friday. Black Hills has a 52-week low of $46.43 and a 52-week high of $60.42. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $57.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $55.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.63 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.06.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.04. Black Hills had a return on equity of 8.21% and a net margin of 12.96%. The business had revenue of $402.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $498.00 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.35 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Black Hills will post 3.92 EPS for the current year.

Black Hills Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 19th were paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 19th. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.04%.

About Black Hills

Black Hills Corporation, through its subsidiaries, operates as an electric and natural gas utility company in the United States. The company operates in two segments: Electric Utilities and Gas Utilities. The Electric Utilities segment generates, transmits, and distributes electricity to approximately 222,000 electric utility customers in Colorado, Montana, South Dakota, and Wyoming; and owns and operates 1,394 megawatts of generation capacity and 9,106 miles of electric transmission and distribution lines.