Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) Shares Pass Above 200 Day Moving Average – Here’s What Happened

Black Hills Corporation (NYSE:BKH) shares passed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $64.26 and traded as high as $73.77. Black Hills shares last traded at $72.33, with a volume of 848,375 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on BKH. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Black Hills in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Scotiabank upgraded Black Hills from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $71.00.

Black Hills Price Performance

The company’s fifty day moving average price is $70.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $64.26. The company has a market capitalization of $5.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.27, a PEG ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10.

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

Black Hills Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 17th were issued a dividend of $0.676 per share. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 17th. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio is 68.18%.

Insider Activity at Black Hills

In related news, CFO Kimberly F. Nooney sold 14,500 shares of the business’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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 34,621 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,447,704.70. The trade was a 29.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.63% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Black Hills

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BKH. Paradiem LLC boosted its holdings in Black Hills by 858.5% in the third quarter. Paradiem LLC now owns 234,833 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $14,463,000 after acquiring an additional 210,333 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Black Hills in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $616,000. Midwest Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Black Hills in the 2nd quarter valued at $3,039,000. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Black Hills by 294.8% during the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 262,011 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $14,699,000 after buying an additional 195,640 shares during the period. Finally, Polaris Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Black Hills during the third quarter worth $2,242,000. 86.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Black Hills

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.