Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) Short Interest Down 11.5% in February

Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,610,000 shares, a decrease of 11.5% from the January 31st total of 1,820,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 467,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.4 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Black Hills from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th.

Institutional Trading of Black Hills

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKH. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in shares of Black Hills during the fourth quarter valued at $96,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its position in Black Hills by 179.4% in the 4th quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,696 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $99,000 after buying an additional 1,089 shares during the last quarter. CSS LLC IL lifted its stake in Black Hills by 15.4% during the 4th quarter. CSS LLC IL now owns 10,808 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $632,000 after acquiring an additional 1,439 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 127,341 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,452,000 after acquiring an additional 2,504 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Waverly Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 43,786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,562,000 after acquiring an additional 2,671 shares during the last quarter. 86.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Black Hills Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BKH opened at $60.17 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.31 billion, a PE ratio of 15.35, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.73. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $58.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.94. Black Hills has a 1-year low of $50.72 and a 1-year high of $65.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.77.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.17. Black Hills had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 7.82%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Black Hills will post 4.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a $0.676 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This is a boost from Black Hills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.49%. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio is 68.88%.

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.