Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) Given Consensus Rating of “Reduce” by Brokerages

Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) has received a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the five ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation and four have assigned a hold recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $58.00.

BKH has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Black Hills from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com raised Black Hills from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Black Hills from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on Black Hills from $54.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th.

Black Hills Stock Performance

NYSE BKH opened at $60.10 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.80 and a beta of 0.68. The business’s 50 day moving average is $57.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $55.09. Black Hills has a 12-month low of $46.43 and a 12-month high of $60.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $402.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $498.00 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.35 earnings per share. Black Hills’s quarterly revenue was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Black Hills will post 3.92 EPS for the current year.

Black Hills Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th were issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 19th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.33%. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.04%.

Institutional Trading of Black Hills

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Black Hills by 0.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,203,786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $447,927,000 after purchasing an additional 60,219 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in shares of Black Hills by 17.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,251,722 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $175,430,000 after buying an additional 475,768 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Black Hills by 31.7% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,147,939 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $62,425,000 after acquiring an additional 275,994 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Black Hills by 8.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 978,497 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $53,210,000 after acquiring an additional 78,958 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Black Hills by 0.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 949,278 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $51,622,000 after acquiring an additional 3,544 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.71% of the company’s stock.

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.