Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) Stake Raised by Convergence Investment Partners LLC

Convergence Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) by 7.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 24,070 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,730 shares during the quarter. Convergence Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Black Hills were worth $1,409,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BKH. Creative Planning raised its position in Black Hills by 4.1% in the third 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. raised its holdings in Black Hills by 84.9% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 577 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 265 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in Black Hills by 26.2% during the 3rd 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 during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Black Hills by 11.8% during the 3rd 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 during the period. Finally, Riverwater Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Black Hills during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,765,000. 86.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Black Hills Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE BKH opened at $59.08 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $4.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.07, a PEG ratio of 4.30 and a beta of 0.73. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $58.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.73. Black Hills Co. has a 52 week low of $50.72 and a 52 week high of $65.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 1.12.

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

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.676 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This is a positive change from Black Hills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.58%. Black Hills’s payout ratio is 66.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Scotiabank lowered their target price on 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.

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.