Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) Stock Rating Raised to Buy at Freedom Broker

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) was upgraded by analysts at Freedom Broker from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $78.00 target price on the utilities provider’s stock, up from their previous target price of $69.00. Freedom Broker’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 1.36% from the company’s current price.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Black Hills from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Black Hills from $87.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 21st. Oppenheimer set a $78.00 target price on shares of Black Hills in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Black Hills from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Black Hills from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Black Hills presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.57.

Black Hills Stock Up 8.8%

NYSE:BKH traded up $6.21 on Wednesday, hitting $76.95. 2,693,637 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 968,707. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $72.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $72.85. Black Hills has a 52 week low of $59.91 and a 52 week high of $78.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The company has a market cap of $5.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.68.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $452.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $490.89 million. Black Hills had a return on equity of 7.98% and a net margin of 13.01%.Black Hills’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.38 EPS. Black Hills has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.250-4.450 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Black Hills will post 4.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Black Hills

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BKH. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Black Hills in the 2nd quarter worth about $928,675,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP boosted its stake in shares of Black Hills by 35.7% in the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 1,442,064 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $107,290,000 after buying an additional 379,211 shares during the period. Cohen & Steers Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Black Hills by 17.8% in the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 1,385,759 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $96,199,000 after buying an additional 209,135 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Black Hills by 1.6% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,141,272 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $79,215,000 after buying an additional 18,109 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in Black Hills by 109.2% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 899,963 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $62,466,000 after buying an additional 469,733 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.71% of the company’s stock.

Key Black Hills News

Here are the key news stories impacting Black Hills this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Black Hills signed agreements running through 2048 to serve Google’s planned facility. The contract converts an earlier data-center opportunity into a committed customer relationship and could provide decades of revenue visibility. Black Hills Google data-center agreement
• Positive Sentiment: The company expects to invest approximately $1.8 billion between 2027 and 2029 in generation capacity tied to the project. Reports describe a planned 564-megawatt natural-gas facility and management of a larger, 2.1-gigawatt microgrid, creating a substantial regulated-style growth opportunity. Reuters Black Hills investment article
• Positive Sentiment: Reported contract provisions, including refundable advances from Google for long-lead equipment, are expected to reduce construction and financing risk. Analysts and market commentary view the agreement as potentially supporting higher long-term earnings and valuation multiples for BKH. Black Hills investor information
• Neutral Sentiment: The data-center project remains planned, so Black Hills still faces construction, regulatory and execution milestones before the full investment and earnings benefits are realized.
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent operating performance was supportive: Black Hills reported quarterly EPS of $0.54 versus a $0.41 consensus estimate, while revenue increased 3.1% year over year. Full-year 2026 EPS guidance remains $4.25 to $4.45.
• Negative Sentiment: The large expansion requires significant capital spending and could increase financing needs and leverage, despite the customer advances and long-term contract protections.
• Negative Sentiment: One insider, Robert P. Otto, reportedly sold 4,109 shares during the past six months. This is a limited signal but may temper enthusiasm at the margin.

Black Hills Company Profile

Black Hills Corporation (NYSE:BKH) is a regulated utility holding company headquartered in Rapid City, South Dakota. Through its operating subsidiaries, the company provides electric and natural gas utility services to residential, commercial, industrial and other customers.

Black Hills owns and operates electric generation, transmission and distribution facilities, as well as natural gas distribution, storage and transportation infrastructure. Its electric utilities serve customers in Colorado, Montana, South Dakota and Wyoming, while its natural gas utilities operate in Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and Wyoming.

The company traces its history to the development of utility services in the Black Hills region and was incorporated as Black Hills Corporation in 1941.