Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) Shares Purchased by Inspire Advisors LLC

Inspire Advisors LLC lifted its position in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) by 28.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 35,563 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,945 shares during the period. Inspire Advisors LLC’s holdings in Black Hills were worth $2,081,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in shares of Black Hills by 19.3% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 210,768 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,882,000 after acquiring an additional 34,129 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Black Hills by 4,751.1% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 16,154 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $945,000 after acquiring an additional 15,821 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Black Hills by 19.3% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 102,335 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,257,000 after acquiring an additional 16,522 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Black Hills by 2.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,663,157 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $101,671,000 after acquiring an additional 33,853 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Black Hills by 7.3% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 18,855 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,151,000 after buying an additional 1,282 shares during the last quarter. 86.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Black Hills Stock Performance

NYSE BKH opened at $60.32 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $58.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $60.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.97. Black Hills Co. has a fifty-two week low of $50.72 and a fifty-two week high of $65.59.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.17. Black Hills had a return on equity of 7.82% and a net margin of 12.84%. On average, research analysts anticipate 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a $0.676 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.48%. This is an increase from Black Hills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. Black Hills’s payout ratio is currently 68.88%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Scotiabank lowered their price objective 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.