Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Boosts Position in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) by 36.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 755,095 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 203,340 shares during the quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned about 1.11% of Black Hills worth $40,737,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in BKH. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Black Hills by 53.8% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 752 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 263 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in Black Hills by 101.2% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 807 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 406 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its holdings in Black Hills by 564.3% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,046 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $110,000 after buying an additional 1,738 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in shares of Black Hills by 1,042.6% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 3,245 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $164,000 after acquiring an additional 2,961 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Personal Financial Services bought a new stake in shares of Black Hills during the 4th quarter valued at about $175,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Rebecca B. Roberts sold 3,094 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.84, for a total value of $169,674.96. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,956 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $436,307.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Black Hills from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Mizuho lifted their price target on Black Hills from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. StockNews.com upgraded Black Hills from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price target on 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Black Hills has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.60.

Black Hills Stock Performance

NYSE:BKH opened at $52.88 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $54.68 and a 200 day moving average of $53.56. The company has a market capitalization of $3.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.02 and a beta of 0.69. Black Hills Co. has a 1-year low of $46.43 and a 1-year high of $61.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.61.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.17. Black Hills had a return on equity of 8.37% and a net margin of 12.92%. The firm had revenue of $726.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $683.00 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.73 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 21.1% on a year-over-year basis.

Black Hills Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th were paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.92%. Black Hills’s payout ratio is 64.04%.

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.