Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) Receives $55.80 Consensus PT from Brokerages

Shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average rating of "Reduce" from the five ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $55.80.

BKH has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com cut Black Hills from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Black Hills from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Black Hills from $61.00 to $57.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 9th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Black Hills

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Black Hills by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,143,567 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $439,345,000 after purchasing an additional 322,271 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in Black Hills by 7.1% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,963,935 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $479,907,000 after acquiring an additional 526,334 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in Black Hills by 17.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,251,722 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $175,430,000 after acquiring an additional 475,768 shares during the period. Macquarie Group Ltd. grew its position in Black Hills by 0.4% during the first quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 2,554,967 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $161,218,000 after acquiring an additional 9,330 shares during the period. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Black Hills by 16.3% during the third quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,344,162 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $68,001,000 after acquiring an additional 188,266 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.71% of the company's stock.

Black Hills Stock Performance

NYSE:BKH traded down $0.10 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $54.40. 358,338 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 565,292. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $52.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $51.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.88 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. Black Hills has a 1 year low of $46.43 and a 1 year high of $66.85.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $591.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $863.67 million. Black Hills had a return on equity of 8.09% and a net margin of 11.25%. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.11 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Black Hills will post 3.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 16th were given a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.78%. This is an increase from Black Hills's previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. Black Hills's payout ratio is currently 66.33%.

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.