Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.17 EPS

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) announced its earnings results on Wednesday. The utilities provider reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.17, Briefing.com reports. Black Hills had a return on equity of 8.09% and a net margin of 11.25%. The firm had revenue of $726.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $683.00 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.73 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 21.1% on a year-over-year basis. Black Hills updated its FY24 guidance to $3.80-4.00 EPS.

Black Hills Price Performance

Black Hills stock traded up $1.22 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $57.58. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 616,812 shares, compared to its average volume of 540,180. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.70. Black Hills has a fifty-two week low of $46.43 and a fifty-two week high of $66.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.93 billion, a PE ratio of 14.56 and a beta of 0.64. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $53.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $52.56.

Black Hills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.52%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.33%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BKH has been the subject of several research reports. Scotiabank reduced their price target 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. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Black Hills from $61.00 to $57.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Black Hills from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Black Hills presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.00.

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.