StockNews.com Downgrades Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) to Sell

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday.

BKH has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Scotiabank increased their target price on Black Hills from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Black Hills from $61.00 to $57.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.80.

Black Hills Stock Performance

BKH opened at $54.60 on Thursday. Black Hills has a 12-month low of $46.43 and a 12-month high of $66.85. The stock has a market cap of $3.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.93 and a beta of 0.64. The business has a 50 day moving average of $52.06 and a 200-day moving average of $52.06. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 8.09% and a net margin of 11.25%. The company had revenue of $591.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $863.67 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.11 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Black Hills will post 3.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Black Hills

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKH. State of Wyoming bought a new position in shares of Black Hills in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Black Hills by 87.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 562 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. bought a new position in shares of Black Hills in the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Black Hills by 678.4% in the 3rd quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 685 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 597 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Black Hills by 53.8% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 752 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 263 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.