Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) Upgraded at Mizuho

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) was upgraded by Mizuho from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday, Briefing.com reports. The firm currently has a $53.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock. Mizuho’s target price indicates a potential upside of 4.52% from the company’s current price.

BKH has been the subject of a number of other reports. TheStreet cut shares of Black Hills from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 5th. StockNews.com started coverage on Black Hills in a report on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “sell” rating on the stock. Bank of America reduced their target price on Black Hills from $60.00 to $49.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Black Hills from $66.00 to $62.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Black Hills from $68.00 to $61.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $59.83.

Black Hills Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BKH opened at $50.71 on Tuesday. Black Hills has a 1 year low of $46.43 and a 1 year high of $73.98. The firm has a market cap of $3.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.14, a PEG ratio of 6.34 and a beta of 0.64. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $50.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $56.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.77.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.16. Black Hills had a return on equity of 8.01% and a net margin of 10.08%. The business had revenue of $407.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $579.85 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.54 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Black Hills will post 3.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its stake in shares of Black Hills by 1.0% in the second quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 85,904 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,177,000 after acquiring an additional 872 shares during the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D grew its stake in shares of Black Hills by 6.4% in the 2nd quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 39,308 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,369,000 after buying an additional 2,359 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Black Hills by 9.1% in the 2nd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 40,079 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,415,000 after buying an additional 3,345 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Black Hills by 6.2% in the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 51,099 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,232,000 after buying an additional 2,967 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. raised its position in Black Hills by 1.6% during the first quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 172,899 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,910,000 after acquiring an additional 2,643 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.64% of the company’s stock.

About Black Hills

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 220,000 electric utility customers in Colorado, Montana, South Dakota, and Wyoming; and owns and operates 1,482 megawatts of generation capacity and 9,024 miles of electric transmission and distribution lines.