Black Hills Co. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.68 (NYSE:BKH)

Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, April 22nd, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of 0.676 per share by the utilities provider on Sunday, June 1st. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th.

Black Hills has increased its dividend payment by an average of 4.3% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 55 years. Black Hills has a payout ratio of 62.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Black Hills to earn $4.36 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.70 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 61.9%.

Black Hills Trading Down 0.6%

BKH opened at $57.74 on Wednesday. Black Hills has a twelve month low of $51.66 and a twelve month high of $65.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The company has a fifty day moving average of $59.80 and a 200-day moving average of $59.89. The stock has a market cap of $4.16 billion, a PE ratio of 14.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.74.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.92 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $805.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $729.73 million. Black Hills had a return on equity of 7.82% and a net margin of 12.84%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.87 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Black Hills will post 4.12 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BKH has been the subject of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of Black Hills in a report on Tuesday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $68.00 price target for the company. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Black Hills from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th.

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.