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

Shares of Black Hills Corporation (NYSE:BKH) reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $72.02 and last traded at $71.9020, with a volume of 1949495 shares. The stock had previously closed at $71.13.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on BKH shares. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Black Hills from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $81.00 in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Bank of America raised shares of Black Hills from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $57.00 to $64.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Black Hills in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $71.00.

Black Hills Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $5.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.05, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $62.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $59.65.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.45. Black Hills had a net margin of 12.68% and a return on equity of 7.81%. The company had revenue of $430.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $439.96 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.35 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Black Hills has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.000-4.20 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Black Hills Corporation will post 4.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Black Hills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Monday, November 17th will be given a dividend of $0.676 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 17th. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio is 68.18%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BKH. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Black Hills by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 4,367 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $265,000 after buying an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Black Hills by 37.8% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 641 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Xponance Inc. raised its stake in Black Hills by 1.9% during the first quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 10,218 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $620,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System raised its position in shares of Black Hills by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 17,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,037,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in Black Hills by 1.0% in the first quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 20,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,219,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.71% of the company’s stock.

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.