WCM Investment Management LLC Increases Holdings in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

WCM Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) by 200.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 70,783 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 47,244 shares during the period. WCM Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Black Hills were worth $4,133,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKH. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in Black Hills by 181.5% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 473 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 84.9% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 577 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in shares of Black Hills by 83.3% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 625 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 284 shares during the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Black Hills during the third quarter valued at $45,000. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in Black Hills in the 3rd quarter valued at $82,000. Institutional investors own 86.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of Black Hills from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday.

Black Hills Stock Down 0.7 %

NYSE BKH opened at $59.46 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $59.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.68. Black Hills Co. has a one year low of $49.50 and a one year 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. The company has a market capitalization of $4.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.17, a P/E/G ratio of 4.30 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 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.17. Black Hills had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 7.88%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Black Hills Co. will post 4.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.676 per share. This is a boost from Black Hills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.55%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. Black Hills’s payout ratio is presently 66.33%.

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.