Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) Short Interest Up 5.2% in January

Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,820,000 shares, an increase of 5.2% from the January 15th total of 1,730,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 496,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.7 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Black Hills Stock Down 1.0 %

BKH opened at $59.08 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $58.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.73. Black Hills has a 1-year low of $50.72 and a 1-year high of $65.59. The stock has a market cap of $4.23 billion, a PE ratio of 15.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.30 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.17. Black Hills had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 7.88%. As a group, research analysts expect that Black Hills will post 4.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.676 per share. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This is a boost from Black Hills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. Black Hills’s payout ratio is currently 66.33%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Black Hills

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Black Hills by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,602,223 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $503,402,000 after buying an additional 37,790 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in Black Hills by 21.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 1,845,088 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $107,975,000 after purchasing an additional 326,959 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Black Hills by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,698,234 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $99,402,000 after purchasing an additional 35,077 shares in the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Black Hills in the third quarter valued at approximately $96,374,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Black Hills by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,225,653 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $71,725,000 after buying an additional 39,369 shares in the last quarter. 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.