Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) Reaches New 1-Year High - Here's Why

Key Points

• Black Hills hit a 52-week high, reaching $87.77 in intraday trading and closing near $87.08, up about 1.1%.
• The utility reported quarterly EPS of $0.57, beating the $0.47 estimate, while revenue of $466.1 million came in below forecasts; revenue nevertheless grew 8.3% year over year.
• Analysts’ consensus rating is Buy, with an average price target of $85. The company also announced a $0.703 quarterly dividend, equivalent to a 3.2% yield.

Black Hills Corporation (NYSE:BKH - Get Free Report) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday. The company traded as high as $87.77 and last traded at $87.0750, with a volume of 25,116 shares. The stock had previously closed at $86.96.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on BKH. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Black Hills in a report on Wednesday, October 14th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $87.00 price objective for the company. Freedom Broker lowered shares of Black Hills from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $78.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, November 5th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Black Hills from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Black Hills in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Black Hills from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $85.00.

Black Hills Stock Up 1.1%

The business has a 50-day moving average price of $75.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $73.84. The stock has a market cap of $6.73 billion, a PE ratio of 21.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $466.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $483.04 million. Black Hills had a net margin of 13.49% and a return on equity of 8.17%. The firm's revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.45 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Black Hills Corporation will post 4.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Black Hills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 17th will be given a $0.7030 dividend. This represents a $2.81 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 17th. Black Hills's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.55%.

Institutional Trading of Black Hills

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new stake in Black Hills during the 2nd quarter worth $29,413,000. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Black Hills during the second quarter worth $928,675,000. Banque Pictet & Cie SA purchased a new stake in shares of Black Hills during the third quarter worth $3,214,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP raised its position in shares of Black Hills by 35.7% in the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 1,442,064 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $107,290,000 after buying an additional 379,211 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Black Hills by 18.0% in the second quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 394,572 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $29,356,000 after buying an additional 60,052 shares during the last quarter. 86.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Black Hills Company Profile

Black Hills Corporation is an energy company headquartered in Rapid City, South Dakota. Through its utility operations, it provides electric and natural gas service to communities across Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming. The company's businesses include generating, transmitting and distributing electricity, as well as distributing natural gas. Its energy operations use a mix of resources, including natural gas, coal and renewable sources, to support electric service.

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