Rhumbline Advisers Purchases 6,843 Shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

Rhumbline Advisers grew its stake in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 240,408 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,843 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers owned 0.34% of Black Hills worth $14,069,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in BKH. Zimmer Partners LP bought a new position in Black Hills in the 3rd quarter worth about $96,374,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Black Hills by 109.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 882,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $53,356,000 after acquiring an additional 461,894 shares in the last quarter. Invenomic Capital Management LP bought a new position in Black Hills in the 3rd quarter worth about $8,260,000. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in Black Hills by 1,579.6% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 84,634 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,953,000 after acquiring an additional 79,595 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Black Hills in the 4th quarter worth about $3,447,000. 86.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Black Hills Price Performance

NYSE BKH opened at $59.65 on Friday. 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’s 50 day moving average price is $58.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $59.76. Black Hills Co. has a 52-week low of $50.72 and a 52-week high of $65.59. The company has a market cap of $4.27 billion, a PE ratio of 15.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.73.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.17. Black Hills had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 7.82%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Black Hills Co. will post 4.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.53%. Black Hills’s dividend 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 on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th.

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.