Bank of America Upgrades Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) to "Neutral"

Key Points

• Bank of America upgraded Black Hills from an "underperform" to a "neutral" rating, raising its price objective from $57.00 to $64.00, indicating a potential upside of 5.15% from the current stock price.
• BMO Capital Markets has also initiated coverage on Black Hills, assigning an "outperform" rating with a price target of $68.00.
• Black Hills recently reported quarterly earnings of $0.38 EPS, meeting analyst expectations, with a revenue increase of 8.9% year-over-year, reaching $439.00 million.

Bank of America upgraded shares of Black Hills (NYSE:BKH - Free Report) from an underperform rating to a neutral rating in a research report released on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $64.00 price target on the utilities provider's stock, up from their previous price target of $57.00.

Separately, BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of Black Hills in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $68.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $66.00.

Black Hills Trading Up 2.1%

Shares of Black Hills stock traded up $1.2310 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $60.9510. The stock had a trading volume of 608,117 shares, compared to its average volume of 822,122. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $57.82 and a two-hundred day moving average of $58.84. Black Hills has a 12-month low of $54.92 and a 12-month high of $65.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The firm has a market cap of $4.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.71.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.38. Black Hills had a net margin of 12.68% and a return on equity of 7.81%. The business had revenue of $439.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $412.69 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.33 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. Black Hills has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.000-4.200 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Black Hills will post 4.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Black Hills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, August 18th will be given a dividend of $0.676 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 18th. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.4%. Black Hills's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.01%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Black Hills

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State of Wyoming boosted its position in shares of Black Hills by 455.4% during the 2nd quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 5,382 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $302,000 after purchasing an additional 4,413 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Black Hills by 44.0% during the 2nd quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,037 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 317 shares during the period. Rexford Capital Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Black Hills during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $205,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its position in shares of Black Hills by 75.4% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 7,718 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $433,000 after purchasing an additional 3,319 shares during the period. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Black Hills during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $253,000. Hedge funds and other 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.