Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) Given Consensus Rating of “Reduce” by Brokerages

Shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) have been given an average recommendation of “Reduce” by the five research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $58.00.

BKH has been the topic of several recent research reports. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Black Hills from $54.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Black Hills from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd.

Institutional Trading of Black Hills

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in Black Hills in the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Black Hills in the first quarter valued at $33,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Black Hills by 84.9% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 577 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC raised its position in Black Hills by 77.2% during the first quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 732 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 319 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP lifted its stake in Black Hills by 158.0% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 841 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 515 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.71% of the company’s stock.

Black Hills Price Performance

Shares of BKH opened at $59.87 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $59.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $57.00. Black Hills has a 52-week low of $47.49 and a 52-week high of $62.20. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $4.13 billion, a PE ratio of 14.75, a P/E/G ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 0.69.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.04. Black Hills had a net margin of 12.96% and a return on equity of 8.21%. The company had revenue of $402.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $498.00 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.35 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Black Hills will post 3.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.