Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) Short Interest Down 29.2% in May

Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,500,000 shares, a drop of 29.2% from the May 15th total of 2,120,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 469,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.2 days. Currently, 2.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of Black Hills in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $68.00 price target on the stock.

Black Hills Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of NYSE:BKH opened at $56.21 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.34, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.72. Black Hills has a 1-year low of $51.99 and a 1-year high of $65.59. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $58.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.23.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.92 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $805.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $729.73 million. Black Hills had a return on equity of 7.82% and a net margin of 12.84%. The business’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.87 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Black Hills will post 4.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Black Hills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th were issued a dividend of $0.676 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.81%. Black Hills’s payout ratio is presently 68.88%.

Institutional Trading of Black Hills

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Black Hills by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,634,076 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $523,657,000 after acquiring an additional 31,853 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in Black Hills by 21.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 1,845,088 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $107,975,000 after purchasing an additional 326,959 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,698,234 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $99,402,000 after purchasing an additional 35,077 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Black Hills by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,225,653 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $71,725,000 after buying an additional 39,369 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Black Hills by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,037,622 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $60,721,000 after buying an additional 37,487 shares during the period. 86.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.