StockNews.com Initiates Coverage on Black Hills (NYSE:BKH)

Stock analysts at StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Black Hills (NYSE:BKH – Get Rating) in a research note issued on Thursday. The brokerage set a “hold” rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Black Hills from $71.00 to $65.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 9th. Sidoti lowered Black Hills from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $67.00 price target for the company. in a report on Thursday, February 9th. Scotiabank lowered Black Hills from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $67.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, February 8th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered Black Hills from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $81.00 to $68.00 in a report on Friday, February 10th. Finally, Mizuho downgraded Black Hills from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $71.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $67.29.

Black Hills Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BKH opened at $63.33 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $63.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $66.63. Black Hills has a 1-year low of $58.81 and a 1-year high of $79.78. The firm has a market cap of $4.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.99 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 3rd. The utilities provider reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.06. Black Hills had a return on equity of 8.33% and a net margin of 9.62%. The business had revenue of $921.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $754.70 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.82 earnings per share. Black Hills’s revenue was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Black Hills will post 3.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Richard Kinzley sold 10,033 shares of Black Hills stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.49, for a total value of $657,061.17. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 36,576 shares in the company, valued at $2,395,362.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Black Hills

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Belpointe Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Black Hills during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp purchased a new position in Black Hills in the first quarter worth $31,000. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC purchased a new position in Black Hills in the first quarter worth $35,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Black Hills by 594.7% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 521 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ronald Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Black Hills by 78.3% in the fourth quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 592 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.96% of the company’s stock.

About Black Hills

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Black Hills Corp. is a diversified energy company. It operates through the following segments: Electric Utilities, Gas Utilities, and Corporate and Other. The Electric Utilities segment generates, transmits, and distributes electricity in Colorado, Montana, South Dakota, and Wyoming. The Gas Utilities segment provides natural gas in Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and Wyoming.