HighTower Advisors LLC Buys 43,061 Shares of Black Hills Corporation $BKH

Key Points

• HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in Black Hills Corporation by 29.6% in the first quarter, now owning 188,485 shares valued at approximately $11.4 million.
• Black Hills reported a quarterly revenue of $439 million, exceeding analysts' expectations, and matched the earnings per share estimate at $0.38.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.676 per share, with an annualized yield of 4.4%, indicative of a solid dividend payout ratio of 68.01%.

HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in Black Hills Corporation (NYSE:BKH - Free Report) by 29.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 188,485 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 43,061 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC owned about 0.26% of Black Hills worth $11,432,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BKH. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Black Hills by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,634,076 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $523,657,000 after buying an additional 31,853 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in Black Hills by 21.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 1,845,088 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $107,975,000 after purchasing an additional 326,959 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Black Hills by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,037,622 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $60,721,000 after acquiring an additional 37,487 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Black Hills by 11.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,016,477 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $59,484,000 after acquiring an additional 105,608 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Black Hills by 309.5% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 953,431 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $55,795,000 after acquiring an additional 720,628 shares in the last quarter. 86.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on BKH. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of Black Hills in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $68.00 price target for the company. Bank of America raised shares of Black Hills from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $57.00 to $64.00 in a report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Black Hills currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $66.00.

Black Hills Price Performance

NYSE BKH traded up $1.16 on Friday, reaching $60.88. 123,505 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 542,939. Black Hills Corporation has a 12 month low of $54.92 and a 12 month high of $65.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.49. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $57.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.84. The stock has a market cap of $4.44 billion, a PE ratio of 15.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.71.

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

Black Hills Announces Dividend

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

Black Hills 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.