Short Interest in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) Expands By 19.9%

Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,930,000 shares, an increase of 19.9% from the February 13th total of 1,610,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 484,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.0 days. Approximately 2.7% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Black Hills

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Atria Investments Inc grew its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 18.7% during the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 5,874 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $359,000 after purchasing an additional 926 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Black Hills by 14.1% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 20,034 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,224,000 after acquiring an additional 2,475 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 19.3% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 210,768 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,882,000 after purchasing an additional 34,129 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 0.4% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 134,679 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,232,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Advisory Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Black Hills by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 13,182 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $806,000 after purchasing an additional 1,170 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of Black Hills from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th.

Black Hills Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BKH traded down $0.91 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $60.44. 339,661 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 422,798. Black Hills has a 12 month low of $50.73 and a 12 month 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. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a 50 day moving average of $59.23 and a 200-day moving average of $60.08.

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

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.676 per share. 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 4.47%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.88%.

About Black Hills

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.