Analysts Set Black Hills Corporation (NYSE:BKH) Target Price at $77.75

Shares of Black Hills Corporation (NYSE:BKH) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the five brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $77.75.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BKH. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Black Hills from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 7th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Black Hills in a research report on Monday, December 29th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Black Hills from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Siebert Williams Shank upgraded shares of Black Hills from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $79.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday.

Institutional Trading of Black Hills

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Black Hills in the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 132.3% during the 3rd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 576 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 328 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 37.8% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 641 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC acquired a new stake in Black Hills in the third quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, Clearstead Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Black Hills by 884.8% in the 3rd quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 778 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 699 shares in the last quarter. 86.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Black Hills Stock Performance

Black Hills stock opened at $72.40 on Thursday. Black Hills has a 12-month low of $54.92 and a 12-month high of $75.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.75. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $72.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $67.95.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.04. Black Hills had a return on equity of 7.95% and a net margin of 12.62%.During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.37 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Black Hills has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.250-4.450 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Black Hills will post 4.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th were paid a dividend of $0.703 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $2.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. This is a boost from Black Hills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio is 70.60%.

About Black Hills

Black Hills Corporation is a diversified energy company based in Rapid City, South Dakota, that provides electricity and natural gas distribution services to residential, commercial and industrial customers. Through its regulated utility subsidiaries—Black Hills Power, Cheyenne Light & Power, and Black Hills Energy—the company delivers reliable energy across Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming.

In addition to its distribution operations, Black Hills owns and operates a generation portfolio that includes natural gas–fired plants, coal-fired units, hydroelectric facilities and wind projects.