Krane Funds Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 8,517 Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

Krane Funds Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 8,517 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $459,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BKH. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Black Hills by 53.8% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 752 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 101.2% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 807 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 406 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Black Hills by 564.3% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,046 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $110,000 after purchasing an additional 1,738 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 1,042.6% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 3,245 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $164,000 after purchasing an additional 2,961 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Personal Financial Services bought a new position in shares of Black Hills during the 4th quarter valued at about $175,000. 86.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Black Hills news, Director Rebecca B. Roberts sold 3,094 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.84, for a total value of $169,674.96. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,956 shares in the company, valued at $436,307.04. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BKH has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Black Hills from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Black Hills from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. StockNews.com raised shares of Black Hills from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price target on Black Hills from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Black Hills presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.60.

Black Hills Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of Black Hills stock traded up $0.28 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $52.54. 340,739 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 336,227. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The company has a 50 day moving average of $54.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $53.54. The stock has a market cap of $3.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.94 and a beta of 0.69. Black Hills Co. has a fifty-two week low of $46.43 and a fifty-two week high of $62.83.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $726.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $683.00 million. Black Hills had a return on equity of 8.37% and a net margin of 12.92%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 21.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.73 EPS.

Black Hills Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th were paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.95%. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.04%.

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.