Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) Sets New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $62.02 and last traded at $62.01, with a volume of 200067 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $60.91.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on BKH shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Black Hills from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Black Hills from $54.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have issued a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Black Hills currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $58.00.

Black Hills Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $59.34 and its 200-day moving average is $56.65. The stock has a market cap of $4.28 billion, a PE ratio of 15.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 0.69.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $402.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $498.00 million. Black Hills had a net margin of 12.96% and a return on equity of 8.21%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.35 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Black Hills Co. will post 3.9 EPS for the current year.

Black Hills Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th were issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 19th. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.04%.

Institutional Trading of Black Hills

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Black Hills by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,143,567 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $439,345,000 after acquiring an additional 322,271 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Black Hills by 31.7% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,147,939 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $62,425,000 after purchasing an additional 275,994 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Black Hills by 36.9% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 755,095 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $40,737,000 after purchasing an additional 203,340 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Black Hills by 54.5% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 481,415 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,179,000 after purchasing an additional 169,827 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Black Hills by 39.7% in the first quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 483,120 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,378,000 after buying an additional 137,356 shares in the last quarter. 86.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Black Hills Company Profile

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.