Prudential Financial Inc. Cuts Stake in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

Prudential Financial Inc. cut its holdings in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) by 59.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 235,940 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 339,391 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. owned 0.33% of Black Hills worth $13,807,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,602,223 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $503,402,000 after buying an additional 37,790 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC increased its holdings in Black Hills by 11.7% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 32,591 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,907,000 after acquiring an additional 3,422 shares during the last quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. lifted its stake in Black Hills by 127.5% in the 4th quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. now owns 12,205 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $714,000 after purchasing an additional 6,841 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 25.9% during the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 22,304 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,305,000 after purchasing an additional 4,589 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Black Hills during the fourth quarter valued at about $335,000. 86.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Black Hills Price Performance

BKH stock opened at $59.62 on Friday. Black Hills Co. has a 52 week low of $50.73 and a 52 week high of $65.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $60.08. 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, 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%. Analysts anticipate that Black Hills Co. will post 4.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a $0.676 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This is an increase from Black Hills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.54%. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.88%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Scotiabank dropped their price target on 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.

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.