Brokerages Set Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) Price Target at $58.00

Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) has received an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the five analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation and four have assigned a hold recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $58.00.

A number of analysts have recently commented on BKH shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Black Hills from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Scotiabank upped their price target on Black Hills from $54.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in shares of Black Hills by 108.0% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 101,774 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,557,000 after purchasing an additional 52,837 shares during the last quarter. Leeward Investments LLC MA increased its position in Black Hills by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. Leeward Investments LLC MA now owns 170,148 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,253,000 after buying an additional 9,048 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 39.7% during the first quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 483,120 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,378,000 after buying an additional 137,356 shares in the last quarter. Lesa Sroufe & Co acquired a new stake in shares of Black Hills during the first quarter worth $2,351,000. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its position in shares of Black Hills by 161.5% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 54,400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,958,000 after acquiring an additional 33,600 shares during the period. 86.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Black Hills Stock Down 2.1 %

NYSE:BKH opened at $57.92 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.34, a PEG ratio of 4.30 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $60.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $57.24. Black Hills has a 1 year low of $48.27 and a 1 year high of $62.20.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $402.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $498.00 million. Black Hills had a net margin of 12.96% and a return on equity of 8.21%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.35 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Black Hills will post 3.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Black Hills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.49%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Black Hills’s payout ratio is 64.36%.

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.