Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Reduce” by Analysts

Shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the five ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation and four have assigned a hold recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $55.80.

Several research firms recently issued reports on BKH. StockNews.com cut shares of Black Hills from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Black Hills from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Black Hills from $61.00 to $57.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 9th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 3.7% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,821,296 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $395,679,000 after acquiring an additional 279,987 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in Black Hills in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,752,000. Diversified Trust Co boosted its stake in Black Hills by 246.0% during the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 40,501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,185,000 after purchasing an additional 28,797 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its position in Black Hills by 57.0% in the 3rd quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 159,190 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,053,000 after purchasing an additional 57,820 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Black Hills by 33.8% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 17,215 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $929,000 after purchasing an additional 4,345 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.71% of the company’s stock.

Black Hills Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of Black Hills stock opened at $52.00 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.56. Black Hills has a 1-year low of $46.43 and a 1-year high of $66.85. The business has a 50-day moving average of $52.56 and a 200-day moving average of $51.99. The company has a market capitalization of $3.55 billion, a PE ratio of 13.27 and a beta of 0.64.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.17 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $591.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $863.67 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.11 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Black Hills will post 3.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 16th were issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.00%. This is a boost from Black Hills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 66.33%.

Black Hills Company Profile

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.