Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) Releases FY 2024 Earnings Guidance

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) issued an update on its FY 2024 earnings guidance on Thursday morning. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of 3.800-4.000 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of 3.890. The company issued revenue guidance of -.

Black Hills Trading Up 3.5 %

Shares of BKH stock opened at $54.04 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $52.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.56. Black Hills has a 1 year low of $46.43 and a 1 year high of $66.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.79 and a beta of 0.64.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.11. Black Hills had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 8.09%. The business had revenue of $591.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $863.67 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.11 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Black Hills will post 3.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 16th were issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is a boost from Black Hills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.81%. Black Hills’s payout ratio is presently 66.33%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BKH has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Black Hills from $61.00 to $57.00 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 9th. StockNews.com cut shares of Black Hills from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Black Hills from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $55.80.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKH. State Street Corp increased its stake in Black Hills by 16.1% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,059,252 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $466,684,000 after acquiring an additional 838,590 shares during the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP bought a new position in Black Hills in the second quarter valued at $39,326,000. Capital Research Global Investors bought a new position in Black Hills in the first quarter valued at $45,758,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Black Hills by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,143,567 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $439,345,000 after acquiring an additional 322,271 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Macquarie Group Ltd. increased its stake in Black Hills by 14.6% in the second quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 2,502,209 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $182,085,000 after acquiring an additional 318,024 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.