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 sent to investors on Wednesday, Marketbeat reports. They currently have $64.00 target price on the utilities provider's stock, up from their prior target price of $57.00.

Separately, BMO Capital Markets began coverage on Black Hills in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. They set 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 assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $66.00.

Black Hills Stock Down 0.8%

NYSE BKH traded down $0.49 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $60.55. 176,117 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 543,710. The stock has a market cap of $4.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.64. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $57.82 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.83. Black Hills has a 1 year low of $54.92 and a 1 year high of $65.59.

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

Black Hills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th will be issued a $0.676 dividend. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 18th. Black Hills's payout ratio is presently 68.01%.

Institutional Trading of Black Hills

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State of Wyoming lifted its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 455.4% in the 2nd quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 5,382 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $302,000 after purchasing an additional 4,413 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 44.0% in the 2nd quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,037 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 317 shares during the last quarter. Rexford Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Black Hills in the 2nd quarter valued at about $205,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its stake in 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 valued at $433,000 after acquiring an additional 3,319 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Black Hills during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $253,000. 86.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.