Jones Financial Companies Lllp Purchases 1,465 Shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its position in shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) by 197.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,206 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,465 shares during the quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp’s holdings in Black Hills were worth $129,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Black Hills by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,663,157 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $101,671,000 after purchasing an additional 33,853 shares in the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP bought a new stake in Black Hills during the 3rd quarter valued at about $96,374,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Black Hills by 109.8% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 882,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $53,356,000 after purchasing an additional 461,894 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Black Hills by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 500,826 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,610,000 after purchasing an additional 21,697 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Black Hills by 16.0% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 408,877 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $24,991,000 after purchasing an additional 56,440 shares in the last quarter. 86.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Black Hills Stock Performance

Shares of BKH stock opened at $61.27 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $59.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $60.04. 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 $4.39 billion, a PE ratio of 15.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.68. 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 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Black Hills Co. will post 4.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.676 per share. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.41%. This is a positive change from Black Hills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Black Hills’s payout ratio is 68.88%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of 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.

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.