Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Reduce” from Brokerages

Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) has been given an average rating of “Reduce” by the five analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation and four have given a hold recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $55.00.

A number of brokerages recently commented on BKH. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Black Hills from $61.00 to $57.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 9th. StockNews.com lowered Black Hills from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Scotiabank cut their target price on Black Hills from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 22nd.

Black Hills Stock Performance

Shares of Black Hills stock opened at $56.35 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.38 and a beta of 0.64. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $53.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $52.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. Black Hills has a 1-year low of $46.43 and a 1-year high of $66.54.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.11. Black Hills had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 8.09%. The company had revenue of $591.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $863.67 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.11 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Black Hills will post 3.9 EPS for the current year.

Black Hills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.61%. Black Hills’s payout ratio is 66.33%.

Institutional Trading of Black Hills

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Black Hills during the first quarter worth about $31,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Black Hills in the 1st quarter worth approximately $33,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 678.4% in the third quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 685 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 597 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in Black Hills by 56.3% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 650 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 234 shares during the period. Finally, Riverview Trust Co purchased a new position in Black Hills in the first quarter worth $38,000. Institutional investors own 86.71% of the company’s stock.

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.