Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) saw a large decline in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,620,000 shares, a decline of 8.1% from the May 31st total of 2,850,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 437,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.0 days.

Insider Activity at Black Hills

In other Black Hills news, Director Rebecca B. Roberts sold 3,094 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.84, for a total value of $169,674.96. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,956 shares in the company, valued at approximately $436,307.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.63% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Black Hills

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Black Hills by 51.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 259,564 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $13,131,000 after acquiring an additional 88,742 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Black Hills by 0.4% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 957,856 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $48,458,000 after purchasing an additional 3,925 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors L.P. grew its position in shares of Black Hills by 15.5% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 12,458 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $630,000 after buying an additional 1,670 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Black Hills during the third quarter worth approximately $2,476,000. Finally, Teza Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Black Hills in the third quarter worth approximately $204,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.71% of the company’s stock.

Black Hills Price Performance

Black Hills stock remained flat at $54.27 during midday trading on Wednesday. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 212,600 shares, compared to its average volume of 504,104. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.74 billion, a PE ratio of 13.37 and a beta of 0.69. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $54.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $53.52. Black Hills has a 52 week low of $46.43 and a 52 week high of $61.94.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.17. Black Hills had a return on equity of 8.37% and a net margin of 12.92%. The business had revenue of $726.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $683.00 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.73 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 21.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Black Hills will post 3.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Black Hills Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th were issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.79%. Black Hills’s payout ratio is currently 64.04%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BKH. Mizuho boosted their target price on Black Hills from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Black Hills from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Black Hills from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Black Hills from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.60.

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.