Wells Fargo & Company Boosts Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) Price Target to $64.00

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) had its price target boosted by Wells Fargo & Company from $61.00 to $64.00 in a report released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. StockNews.com raised Black Hills from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on Black Hills from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Black Hills from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Black Hills currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $56.20.

Black Hills Trading Down 4.3 %

Shares of Black Hills stock opened at $56.38 on Friday. Black Hills has a 52 week low of $46.43 and a 52 week high of $59.82. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $55.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $54.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.89 billion, a PE ratio of 13.89 and a beta of 0.68.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last issued 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 net margin of 12.96% and a return on equity of 8.28%. The firm had revenue of $402.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $498.00 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.35 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Black Hills will post 3.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Black Hills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 19th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.61%. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Rebecca B. Roberts sold 3,094 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.84, for a total transaction of $169,674.96. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,956 shares in the company, valued at approximately $436,307.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Black Hills

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BKH. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 108.0% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 101,774 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,557,000 after purchasing an additional 52,837 shares during the period. Nebula Research & Development LLC bought a new position in shares of Black Hills during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,564,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Black Hills by 39.7% in the first quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 483,120 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,378,000 after acquiring an additional 137,356 shares in the last quarter. Versor Investments LP increased its position in Black Hills by 227.3% during the 4th quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 31,425 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,695,000 after purchasing an additional 21,825 shares during the period. Finally, Lesa Sroufe & Co bought a new position in Black Hills in the 1st quarter worth $2,351,000. Hedge funds and other 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.