Black Hills Corporation, through its subsidiaries, operates as an electric and natural gas utility company in the United States. It operates in two segments, Electric Utilities and Gas Utilities. The Electric Utilities segment generates, transmits, and distributes electricity to approximately 218,000 electric utility customers in Colorado, Montana, South Dakota, and Wyoming; and owns and operates 1,481.5 megawatts of generation capacity and 8,892 miles of electric transmission and distribution lines. The Gas Utilities segment distributes natural gas to approximately 1,094,000 natural gas utility customers in Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and Wyoming; owns and operates 4,732 miles of intrastate gas transmission pipelines; 41,644 miles of gas distribution mains and service lines; six natural gas storage sites; and approximately 50,000 horsepower of compression and 515 miles of gathering lines. The company also constructs and maintains gas infrastructure facilities for gas transportation customers; and provides appliance repair services to residential utility customers, as well as electrical system construction services to large industrial customers. In addition, it produces electric power through wind, natural gas, and coal-fired generating plants; and coal at its coal mine located near Gillette, Wyoming. The company was incorporated in 1941 and is headquartered in Rapid City, South Dakota.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several analysts recently weighed in on BKH shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Black Hills from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 10th. Mizuho cut shares of Black Hills from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their target price for the company from $71.00 to $76.00 in a report on Friday, May 6th.
Black Hills Stock Down 0.8 %
BKH Stock traded down $0.63 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $74.40. 412,512 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 299,771. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.07. Black Hills has a 1-year low of $61.95 and a 1-year high of $80.95. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $72.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $72.79. The company has a market cap of $4.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.49.
Black Hills (NYSE:BKH - Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 3rd. The utilities provider reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.10. Black Hills had a net margin of 11.88% and a return on equity of 9.22%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.40 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Black Hills will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current year.
Black Hills Announces Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 18th will be given a dividend of $0.595 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 17th. This represents a $2.38 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.20%. Black Hills's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.35%.
Insider Transactions at Black Hills
In other news, Director Rebecca B. Roberts sold 500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.62, for a total transaction of $36,810.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,445 shares in the company, valued at $474,480.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.71% of the company's stock.