Northern Trust Corp Trims Position in Black Hills Corporation $BKH

Key Points

• Northern Trust Corp has reduced its stake in Black Hills Corporation by 1.3%, selling 13,166 shares and owning approximately 1.39% of the company valued at $60.85 million.
• Black Hills announced a quarterly dividend of $0.676, with a payout ratio of 68.01%, representing an annualized dividend yield of 4.5%.
• The company reported strong quarterly earnings with a revenue of $439 million, surpassing analyst estimates, and set its FY 2025 EPS guidance in the range of 4.000-4.200.

Northern Trust Corp decreased its stake in shares of Black Hills Corporation (NYSE:BKH - Free Report) by 1.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,003,311 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 13,166 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp owned about 1.39% of Black Hills worth $60,851,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BKH. IMA Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Black Hills during the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Clearstead Trust LLC purchased a new stake in Black Hills during the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Black Hills by 59.2% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 605 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its stake in shares of Black Hills by 1,159.7% in the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 781 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 719 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Byrne Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Black Hills by 238.0% in the first quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 845 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 595 shares in the last quarter. 86.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BKH. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of Black Hills in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $68.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America upgraded shares of Black Hills from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $57.00 to $64.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $66.00.

Black Hills Price Performance

BKH stock traded up $0.02 during trading on Monday, hitting $59.76. 565,326 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 780,736. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.64. Black Hills Corporation has a 52 week low of $54.92 and a 52 week high of $65.59.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 12.68% and a return on equity of 7.81%. The business's revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.33 EPS. Black Hills has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.000-4.200 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Black Hills Corporation will post 4.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Black Hills Announces Dividend

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 is Monday, August 18th. Black Hills's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.01%.

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.