Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,930,000 shares, a growth of 19.9% from the February 13th total of 1,610,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 484,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.0 days. Approximately 2.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Scotiabank dropped 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

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

Black Hills Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE BKH traded up $0.19 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $60.68. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 496,581 shares, compared to its average volume of 420,136. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $60.08. The stock has a market cap of $4.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.68. Black Hills has a 52 week low of $50.73 and a 52 week 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 earnings results 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%. Equities analysts forecast that Black Hills will post 4.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.676 per share. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This is an increase from Black Hills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.