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

Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) saw a significant drop in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,900,000 shares, a drop of 7.6% from the March 15th total of 3,140,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 573,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.1 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BKH has been the topic of several analyst reports. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Black Hills from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Black Hills from $61.00 to $57.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Black Hills from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.80.

Black Hills Price Performance

Shares of BKH stock traded down $0.81 on Tuesday, hitting $51.19. 377,370 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 555,180. The firm has a market cap of $3.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.06 and a beta of 0.64. Black Hills has a 52 week low of $46.43 and a 52 week high of $66.85. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $52.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $52.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.56.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last announced its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $591.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $863.67 million. Black Hills had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 8.09%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.11 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Black Hills will post 3.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 16th were issued a $0.65 dividend. This is an increase from Black Hills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.08%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. Black Hills’s payout ratio is currently 66.33%.

Institutional Trading of Black Hills

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Black Hills by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,821,296 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $395,679,000 after acquiring an additional 279,987 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Black Hills in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,752,000. Diversified Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 246.0% in the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 40,501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,185,000 after buying an additional 28,797 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 57.0% in the 3rd quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 159,190 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,053,000 after buying an additional 57,820 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 33.8% in the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 17,215 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $929,000 after buying an additional 4,345 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.