Jefferies Financial Group Upgrades Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) to “Strong-Buy”

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) was upgraded by stock analysts at Jefferies Financial Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a report issued on Wednesday, Zacks reports.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Freedom Broker upgraded shares of Black Hills from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $69.00 to $78.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Black Hills from $87.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 21st. Weiss Ratings raised Black Hills from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Black Hills from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Black Hills from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and seven have issued a Buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.25.

Black Hills Stock Performance

NYSE BKH opened at $75.85 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $5.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.15, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $72.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $73.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. Black Hills has a 12-month low of $61.85 and a 12-month high of $78.69.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $452.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $490.89 million. Black Hills had a net margin of 13.01% and a return on equity of 7.98%. The business’s revenue was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.38 earnings per share. Black Hills has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.250-4.450 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Black Hills will post 4.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Black Hills

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BKH. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new stake in Black Hills in the 2nd quarter worth about $29,413,000. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Black Hills in the 2nd quarter valued at about $928,675,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP increased its stake in Black Hills by 35.7% in the 2nd quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 1,442,064 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $107,290,000 after buying an additional 379,211 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Black Hills by 18.0% during the 2nd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 394,572 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,356,000 after buying an additional 60,052 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of Black Hills during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,613,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.71% of the company’s stock.

About Black Hills

Black Hills Corporation (NYSE:BKH) is a regulated utility holding company headquartered in Rapid City, South Dakota. Through its operating subsidiaries, the company provides electric and natural gas utility services to residential, commercial, industrial and other customers.

Black Hills owns and operates electric generation, transmission and distribution facilities, as well as natural gas distribution, storage and transportation infrastructure. Its electric utilities serve customers in Colorado, Montana, South Dakota and Wyoming, while its natural gas utilities operate in Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and Wyoming.

The company traces its history to the development of utility services in the Black Hills region and was incorporated as Black Hills Corporation in 1941.