Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) Shares Sold by New York State Teachers Retirement System

New York State Teachers Retirement System lessened its stake in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) by 8.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 87,390 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 8,000 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 0.12% of Black Hills worth $5,114,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKH. Creative Planning increased its holdings in Black Hills by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 24,537 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,500,000 after acquiring an additional 966 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in Black Hills by 84.9% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 577 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 26.2% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 15,712 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $960,000 after buying an additional 3,262 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 11.8% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 33,568 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $20,520,000 after buying an additional 3,548 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Riverwater Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Black Hills during the third quarter worth $1,765,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.71% of the company’s stock.

Black Hills Price Performance

Black Hills stock opened at $58.89 on Friday. Black Hills Co. has a 52-week low of $50.72 and a 52-week high of $65.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.02, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $59.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.17. Black Hills had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 7.82%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Black Hills Co. will post 4.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $0.676 per share. This is a boost 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 dividend yield of 4.59%. Black Hills’s payout ratio is presently 68.88%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of Black Hills from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th.

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.