Short Interest in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) Decreases By 7.6%

Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) was the target of a large drop in short interest in 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 trading volume of 573,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.1 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sunbelt Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Black Hills during the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. Riverview Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Black Hills during the 1st quarter valued at about $38,000. Congress Asset Management Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Black Hills by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 55,625 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,037,000 after acquiring an additional 702 shares during the last quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC lifted its position in Black Hills by 76.6% in the 1st quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC now owns 7,162 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $391,000 after buying an additional 3,107 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Black Hills in the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on 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. 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 report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Black Hills from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.80.

Black Hills Stock Performance

BKH traded up $0.57 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $51.77. The stock had a trading volume of 137,202 shares, compared to its average volume of 549,464. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $52.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $52.00. Black Hills has a 1 year low of $46.43 and a 1 year high of $66.85. The stock has a market cap of $3.54 billion, a PE ratio of 13.06 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $591.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 in the previous year, the firm earned $1.11 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Black Hills will post 3.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 16th were issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.02%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. This is a positive change from Black Hills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. Black Hills’s payout ratio is presently 66.33%.

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.