Brokerages Set Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) Price Target at $58.00

Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the five brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $58.00.

A number of analysts have commented on BKH shares. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Black Hills from $54.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Black Hills from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd.

Black Hills Trading Down 1.4 %

BKH opened at $59.11 on Tuesday. Black Hills has a 1-year low of $47.49 and a 1-year high of $61.96. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $59.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $56.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.07 billion, a PE ratio of 14.56, a PEG ratio of 4.36 and a beta of 0.69. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $402.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $498.00 million. Black Hills had a return on equity of 8.21% and a net margin of 12.96%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.35 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Black Hills will post 3.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Black Hills Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.40%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 19th. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.04%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Black Hills

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BKH. Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in Black Hills by 4.1% in the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 4,736 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $258,000 after buying an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Uncommon Cents Investing LLC boosted its stake in Black Hills by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Uncommon Cents Investing LLC now owns 10,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $585,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its holdings in Black Hills by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 85,382 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,662,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Lesa Sroufe & Co raised its stake in shares of Black Hills by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Lesa Sroufe & Co now owns 43,294 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,354,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares during the period. Finally, BancFirst Trust & Investment Management lifted its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 5.7% in the second quarter. BancFirst Trust & Investment Management now owns 4,326 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $234,000 after purchasing an additional 233 shares in the last quarter. 86.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.