JPMorgan Chase & Co. Acquires 249,640 Shares of Black Hills Corporation $BKH

JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Black Hills Corporation (NYSE:BKH) by 67.7% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 618,131 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 249,640 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Black Hills were worth $38,071,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D increased its position in Black Hills by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 35,617 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,194,000 after purchasing an additional 2,896 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Black Hills by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 187,539 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,551,000 after purchasing an additional 14,144 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in shares of Black Hills by 9.2% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 7,856 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $484,000 after buying an additional 661 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Black Hills by 4.2% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 28,741 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,770,000 after buying an additional 1,169 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Navellier & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in Black Hills by 24.7% in the third quarter. Navellier & Associates Inc. now owns 11,018 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $679,000 after buying an additional 2,182 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on BKH shares. Scotiabank upgraded Black Hills from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $81.00 in a report on Friday, November 7th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Black Hills in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen lowered Black Hills from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Black Hills from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Black Hills presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $76.33.

Black Hills Trading Down 0.3%

Black Hills stock opened at $73.63 on Friday. Black Hills Corporation has a 12 month low of $54.92 and a 12 month high of $75.87. The company has a market capitalization of $5.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.75. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $71.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $67.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.04. Black Hills had a return on equity of 7.95% and a net margin of 12.62%.During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.37 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Black Hills has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.250-4.450 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Black Hills Corporation will post 4.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.703 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. This is a positive change from Black Hills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio is currently 70.60%.

Black Hills Company Profile

Black Hills Corporation is a diversified energy company based in Rapid City, South Dakota, that provides electricity and natural gas distribution services to residential, commercial and industrial customers. Through its regulated utility subsidiaries—Black Hills Power, Cheyenne Light & Power, and Black Hills Energy—the company delivers reliable energy across Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming.

In addition to its distribution operations, Black Hills owns and operates a generation portfolio that includes natural gas–fired plants, coal-fired units, hydroelectric facilities and wind projects.