Black Hills Corporation (NYSE:BKH) Stock Rated “Buy” by Sell-Side Analysts

Black Hills Corporation (NYSE:BKH) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the eight analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $83.25.

A number of equities analysts have commented on BKH shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Black Hills from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Black Hills from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Black Hills in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Black Hills in a research report on Wednesday, October 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $87.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Freedom Broker upgraded Black Hills from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $69.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 7th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Black Hills

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BKH. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new stake in Black Hills in the second quarter valued at about $29,413,000. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Black Hills during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $928,675,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP lifted its holdings in Black Hills by 35.7% during the 2nd quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 1,442,064 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $107,290,000 after buying an additional 379,211 shares during the last quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA bought a new position in Black Hills during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,214,000. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Black Hills by 18.0% in the 2nd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 394,572 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,356,000 after acquiring an additional 60,052 shares in the last quarter. 86.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Black Hills Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:BKH opened at $81.43 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. Black Hills has a 52-week low of $62.26 and a 52-week high of $81.96. The company has a 50 day moving average of $73.82 and a two-hundred day moving average of $73.28. The company has a market capitalization of $6.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.68.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $452.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $490.89 million. Black Hills had a net margin of 13.01% and a return on equity of 7.98%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.38 earnings per share. Black Hills has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.250-4.450 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Black Hills will post 4.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Black Hills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.7030 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 17th. This represents a $2.81 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. Black Hills’s payout ratio is currently 70.96%.

About Black Hills

Black Hills Corporation (NYSE:BKH) is an energy company headquartered in Rapid City, South Dakota. Through its Black Hills Energy businesses, the company provides regulated electric and natural gas utility services to residential, commercial and industrial customers.

Black Hills operates electric utilities and natural gas distribution systems across parts of Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming. Its activities include generating and purchasing electricity, transmitting and distributing power, distributing natural gas, and developing and maintaining the infrastructure needed to serve its utility customers.

The company traces its history to the Black Hills region and has expanded through the development and acquisition of utility operations in the central and western United States.