Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.04 EPS

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) issued its earnings results on Wednesday. The utilities provider reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.04, Briefing.com reports. Black Hills had a net margin of 12.96% and a return on equity of 8.28%. The firm had revenue of $402.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $498.00 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.35 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Black Hills updated its FY24 guidance to $3.80-4.00 EPS and its FY 2024 guidance to 3.800-4.000 EPS.

Black Hills Stock Performance

Black Hills stock traded down $0.37 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $58.92. The stock had a trading volume of 519,364 shares, compared to its average volume of 435,674. The company has a market cap of $4.06 billion, a PE ratio of 14.51 and a beta of 0.68. Black Hills has a fifty-two week low of $46.43 and a fifty-two week high of $59.82. The company has a 50-day moving average of $55.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $53.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11.

Black Hills Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th will be given a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 19th. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.04%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Rebecca B. Roberts sold 3,094 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.84, for a total transaction of $169,674.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,956 shares in the company, valued at approximately $436,307.04. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on BKH shares. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Black Hills from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Black Hills from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Black Hills from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Black Hills from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.20.

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.