Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.65

Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, October 28th, NASDAQ reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a dividend of 0.65 per share by the utilities provider on Sunday, December 1st. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th.

Black Hills has increased its dividend payment by an average of 4.8% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 54 consecutive years. Black Hills has a payout ratio of 63.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Black Hills to earn $4.14 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 62.8%.

Black Hills Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of BKH traded down $0.40 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $59.95. The stock had a trading volume of 599,926 shares, compared to its average volume of 468,301. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $57.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 0.69. Black Hills has a 1-year low of $47.49 and a 1-year high of $62.20.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.04. Black Hills had a net margin of 12.96% and a return on equity of 8.21%. The company had revenue of $402.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $498.00 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.35 EPS. Black Hills's revenue was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Black Hills will post 3.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on BKH shares. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Black Hills from $54.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Black Hills from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have issued a hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $58.00.

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.

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