Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) Short Interest Up 5.2% in January

Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH - Get Free Report) was the target of a large growth in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,820,000 shares, a growth of 5.2% from the January 15th total of 1,730,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 496,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.7 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Scotiabank decreased their price objective on Black Hills from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th.

Black Hills Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of BKH stock traded up $0.83 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $59.65. The company had a trading volume of 450,536 shares, compared to its average volume of 467,375. Black Hills has a 12 month low of $50.72 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $59.75. The company has a market cap of $4.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.73.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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%. On average, research analysts expect that Black Hills will post 4.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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Black Hills Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a $0.676 dividend. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This is an increase from Black Hills's previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. Black Hills's dividend payout ratio is 68.88%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Black Hills

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

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.