Black Hills Co. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.65 (NYSE:BKH)

Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, April 22nd, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a dividend of 0.65 per share by the utilities provider on Saturday, June 1st. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th.

Black Hills has increased its dividend payment by an average of 4.8% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 1 consecutive years. Black Hills has a dividend payout ratio of 63.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings.

Black Hills Stock Performance

Shares of BKH stock traded up $0.16 on Wednesday, hitting $54.54. 357,595 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 544,473. The company has a market capitalization of $3.72 billion, a PE ratio of 13.91 and a beta of 0.64. The company's fifty day moving average is $52.86 and its 200 day moving average is $52.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.56. 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 issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.11. Black Hills had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 8.09%. The company had revenue of $591.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $863.67 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.11 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Black Hills will post 3.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on BKH shares. StockNews.com lowered Black Hills from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Black Hills from $61.00 to $57.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Scotiabank cut their target price on Black Hills from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $55.00.

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.