Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. cut its stake in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) by 1.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 41,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 703 shares during the period. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. owned about 0.06% of Black Hills worth $2,230,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of Black Hills by 17.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,251,722 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $175,430,000 after buying an additional 475,768 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Black Hills by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,143,567 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $439,345,000 after acquiring an additional 322,271 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in Black Hills by 36.9% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 755,095 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $40,737,000 after acquiring an additional 203,340 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Black Hills by 54.5% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 481,415 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,179,000 after acquiring an additional 169,827 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of Black Hills by 39.7% in the 1st quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 483,120 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,378,000 after purchasing an additional 137,356 shares during the last quarter. 86.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BKH shares. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Black Hills from $54.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Mizuho lifted their price target on Black Hills from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Finally, 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 report on Friday, August 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $58.00.

Black Hills Price Performance

Shares of BKH opened at $60.68 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.94. Black Hills Co. has a 1-year low of $46.43 and a 1-year high of $61.89. The stock has a market cap of $4.18 billion, a PE ratio of 14.95 and a beta of 0.68. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $58.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.74.

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

Black Hills Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th were issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 19th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.28%. Black Hills’s payout ratio is 64.04%.

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.