Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) Reaches New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on BKH shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Black Hills from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Black Hills from $54.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Black Hills presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $58.00.

Black Hills Stock Performance

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $59.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $56.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.06. The company has a market cap of $4.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.20, a PEG ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 0.69.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.04. The firm 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 previous year, the company earned $0.35 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Black Hills Co. will post 3.9 EPS for the current year.

Black Hills Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 19th were paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 19th. Black Hills’s payout ratio is currently 64.04%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BKH. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted 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 worth $5,557,000 after purchasing an additional 52,837 shares in the last quarter. Leeward Investments LLC MA increased its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 5.6% in the second quarter. Leeward Investments LLC MA now owns 170,148 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,253,000 after purchasing an additional 9,048 shares during the last quarter. 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 acquiring an additional 137,356 shares in the last quarter. Lesa Sroufe & Co acquired a new position in shares of Black Hills in the first quarter valued at about $2,351,000. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its stake 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 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.