Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) Sets New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

Black Hills Corporation (NYSE:BKH)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $74.23 and last traded at $73.57, with a volume of 71479 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $72.68.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Black Hills in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Black Hills from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $66.00 to $81.00 in a report on Friday, November 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $71.00.

Black Hills Stock Up 1.0%

The firm has a market cap of $5.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $70.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $64.58.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.45. Black Hills had a return on equity of 7.86% and a net margin of 12.54%.The company had revenue of $430.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $439.96 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.35 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Black Hills Corporation will post 4.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be given a $0.703 dividend. This is an increase from Black Hills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 17th. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.18%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Black Hills news, CFO Kimberly F. Nooney sold 14,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.70, for a total value of $1,025,150.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 34,621 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,447,704.70. This trade represents a 29.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Black Hills by 0.6% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 26,208 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,614,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 11.5% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,516 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $105,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Black Hills by 37.8% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 641 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 176 shares during the period. Lesa Sroufe & Co increased its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Lesa Sroufe & Co now owns 45,833 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,823,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Osaic Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 9,068 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $509,000 after buying an additional 222 shares during the last quarter. 86.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Black Hills Company Profile

Black Hills Corporation is a diversified energy company based in Rapid City, South Dakota, that provides electricity and natural gas distribution services to residential, commercial and industrial customers. Through its regulated utility subsidiaries—Black Hills Power, Cheyenne Light & Power, and Black Hills Energy—the company delivers reliable energy across Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming.

In addition to its distribution operations, Black Hills owns and operates a generation portfolio that includes natural gas–fired plants, coal-fired units, hydroelectric facilities and wind projects.