Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) Position Boosted by Van ECK Associates Corp

Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) by 10.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 20,862 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,007 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Black Hills were worth $1,221,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 181.5% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 473 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 84.9% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 577 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 265 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings 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 valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 284 shares during the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Black Hills during the 3rd quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Black Hills during the 3rd quarter valued at about $82,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Black Hills Stock Up 1.4 %

BKH opened at $59.65 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $58.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.75. Black Hills Co. has a twelve month low of $50.72 and a twelve month high of $65.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.97. The firm has a market cap of $4.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.73.

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

Black Hills Increases Dividend

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