Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Boosts Holdings in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its holdings in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) by 3.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 600 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Black Hills were worth $1,165,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in Black Hills by 181.5% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 473 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Black Hills by 84.9% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 577 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in shares of Black Hills by 83.3% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 625 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 284 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in Black Hills during the third quarter worth approximately $45,000. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in Black Hills in the third quarter valued at approximately $82,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Black Hills from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th.

Black Hills Price Performance

Black Hills stock opened at $59.71 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.23, a P/E/G ratio of 4.30 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Black Hills Co. has a 12-month low of $50.72 and a 12-month high of $65.59. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $58.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $59.73.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.17. Black Hills had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 7.88%. Equities analysts predict that Black Hills Co. will post 4.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.676 per share. This is a positive change from Black Hills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.53%. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio is 68.88%.

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.