Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Shares of Black Hills Corporation (NYSE:BKH) gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday. The stock had previously closed at $70.74, but opened at $74.79. Black Hills shares last traded at $75.9770, with a volume of 587,478 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BKH has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Oppenheimer set a $78.00 price objective on Black Hills in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Freedom Broker started coverage on shares of Black Hills in a report on Wednesday, September 30th. They set a “hold” rating and a $69.00 price target on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Black Hills from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Black Hills from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Black Hills from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Black Hills presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.29.

Black Hills Stock Up 8.9%

The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $72.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $72.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.68.

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

Black Hills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th were issued a $0.7030 dividend. This represents a $2.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 17th. Black Hills’s payout ratio is currently 70.96%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Clearstead Trust LLC bought a new stake in shares of Black Hills in the second quarter worth about $34,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Black Hills during the second quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC bought a new position in Black Hills during the second quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Black Hills during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $68,000. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Black Hills in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $74,000. Institutional investors own 86.71% of the company’s stock.

Black Hills Company Profile

Black Hills Corporation (NYSE:BKH) is a regulated utility holding company headquartered in Rapid City, South Dakota. Through its operating subsidiaries, the company provides electric and natural gas utility services to residential, commercial, industrial and other customers.

Black Hills owns and operates electric generation, transmission and distribution facilities, as well as natural gas distribution, storage and transportation infrastructure. Its electric utilities serve customers in Colorado, Montana, South Dakota and Wyoming, while its natural gas utilities operate in Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and Wyoming.

The company traces its history to the development of utility services in the Black Hills region and was incorporated as Black Hills Corporation in 1941.