Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) Rating Lowered to Sell at StockNews.com

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) was downgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on BKH. Scotiabank raised their target price on Black Hills from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Black Hills from $61.00 to $57.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Two 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, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.80.

Black Hills Price Performance

Shares of BKH stock opened at $54.60 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $3.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.93 and a beta of 0.64. Black Hills has a fifty-two week low of $46.43 and a fifty-two week high of $66.85. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $52.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $52.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.70.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKH. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can raised its stake in Black Hills by 11.1% during the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 36,590 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,896,000 after buying an additional 3,657 shares during the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Black Hills by 4.4% during the first quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 34,426 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,651,000 after buying an additional 1,466 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. increased its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 8.2% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 8,190 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $631,000 after purchasing an additional 618 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 7.2% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 748,590 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $57,656,000 after purchasing an additional 50,038 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 13,420 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,034,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.