Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) saw a large growth in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,930,000 shares, a growth of 19.9% from the February 13th total of 1,610,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 484,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.0 days. Approximately 2.7% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of Black Hills from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th.

Black Hills Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of BKH traded down $0.91 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $60.44. The company had a trading volume of 339,661 shares, compared to its average volume of 422,798. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $59.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $60.08. The firm has a market cap of $4.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.68. Black Hills has a 52-week low of $50.73 and a 52-week high of $65.59.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.17. Black Hills had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 7.82%. On average, research analysts predict that Black Hills will post 4.12 EPS for the current year.

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.676 per share. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.47%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This is a boost from Black Hills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio is 68.88%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKH. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in shares of Black Hills by 19.3% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 210,768 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,882,000 after buying an additional 34,129 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Black Hills by 4,751.1% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 16,154 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $945,000 after purchasing an additional 15,821 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 19.3% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 102,335 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,257,000 after acquiring an additional 16,522 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,663,157 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $101,671,000 after purchasing an additional 33,853 shares during the period. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its position in Black Hills by 264.8% in the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 28,139 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,720,000 after buying an additional 20,425 shares during the last quarter. 86.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Black Hills

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.