Black Hills (BKH) Competitors

MDU Resources Group (NYSE:MDU) and Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) are both mid-cap utilities companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their community ranking, valuation, dividends, earnings, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership and risk.

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in MDU or BKH?

71.4% of MDU Resources Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.7% of Black Hills shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of MDU Resources Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Black Hills shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Do analysts recommend MDU or BKH?

MDU Resources Group presently has a consensus target price of $18.00, indicating a potential upside of 2.21%. Black Hills has a consensus target price of $63.75, indicating a potential upside of 7.56%. Given Black Hills' higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Black Hills is more favorable than MDU Resources Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
MDU Resources Group	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67
Black Hills	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.25

Is MDU or BKH more profitable?

Black Hills has a net margin of 12.84% compared to MDU Resources Group's net margin of 7.31%. MDU Resources Group's return on equity of 10.20% beat Black Hills' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
MDU Resources Group	7.31%	10.20%	3.85%
Black Hills	12.84%	7.82%	2.76%

Does the media favor MDU or BKH?

In the previous week, MDU Resources Group had 2 more articles in the media than Black Hills. MarketBeat recorded 13 mentions for MDU Resources Group and 11 mentions for Black Hills. MDU Resources Group's average media sentiment score of 1.32 beat Black Hills' score of 0.92 indicating that MDU Resources Group is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
MDU Resources Group	9 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Black Hills	7 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has preferable valuation & earnings, MDU or BKH?

MDU Resources Group has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Black Hills. MDU Resources Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Black Hills, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
MDU Resources Group	$1.84B	1.95	$281.10M	$1.29	13.65
Black Hills	$2.21B	1.95	$273.10M	$3.92	15.12

Does the MarketBeat Community favor MDU or BKH?

Black Hills received 99 more outperform votes than MDU Resources Group when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 60.09% of users gave MDU Resources Group an outperform vote while only 59.02% of users gave Black Hills an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
MDU Resources Group	Outperform Votes 274 60.09%	Underperform Votes 182 39.91%
Black Hills	Outperform Votes 373 59.02%	Underperform Votes 259 40.98%

Which has more volatility and risk, MDU or BKH?

MDU Resources Group has a beta of 0.72, indicating that its share price is 28% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Black Hills has a beta of 0.74, indicating that its share price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is MDU or BKH a better dividend stock?

MDU Resources Group pays an annual dividend of $0.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Black Hills pays an annual dividend of $2.70 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.6%. MDU Resources Group pays out 40.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Black Hills pays out 68.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. MDU Resources Group has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years and Black Hills has increased its dividend for 55 consecutive years. Black Hills is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

MDU Resources Group beats Black Hills on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.