Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Trims Holdings in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lowered its stake in shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) by 1.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 803,237 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 14,475 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned approximately 1.17% of Black Hills worth $43,680,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in shares of Black Hills by 37.1% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 48,937 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,640,000 after buying an additional 13,233 shares in the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP increased its stake in Black Hills by 175.0% during the fourth quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 67,999 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,669,000 after purchasing an additional 43,272 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in shares of Black Hills by 21.0% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 6,344 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $342,000 after purchasing an additional 1,101 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Black Hills by 12.8% during the fourth quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 46,140 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,489,000 after purchasing an additional 5,253 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in shares of Black Hills by 346.2% in the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 40,140 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,164,000 after purchasing an additional 31,145 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.71% of the company’s stock.

Black Hills Price Performance

Shares of BKH opened at $60.84 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.00 and a beta of 0.68. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $58.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $55.63. Black Hills Co. has a twelve month low of $46.43 and a twelve month high of $61.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.04. Black Hills had a return on equity of 8.21% and a net margin of 12.96%. The company had revenue of $402.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $498.00 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.35 EPS. Black Hills’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Black Hills Co. will post 3.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Black Hills Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 19th were issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 19th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.27%. Black Hills’s payout ratio is currently 64.04%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on BKH. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Black Hills from $54.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Black Hills from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on Black Hills from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.