Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.68 Per Share

Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, January 24th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a dividend of 0.676 per share by the utilities provider on Saturday, March 1st. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.70%. This is a boost from Black Hills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65.

Black Hills has increased its dividend by an average of 4.3% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 35 years. Black Hills has a dividend payout ratio of 60.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Black Hills to earn $4.13 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 63.0%.

Black Hills Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE BKH traded up $0.28 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $57.59. The stock had a trading volume of 419,012 shares, compared to its average volume of 472,813. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $60.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $59.48. Black Hills has a 52 week low of $49.33 and a 52 week high of $65.59. The company has a market capitalization of $4.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.48, a P/E/G ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 1.12.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Black Hills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.25.

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.