Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) Position Increased by Sterling Capital Management LLC

Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) by 17.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 13,292 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,016 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Black Hills were worth $778,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of BKH. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Black Hills by 66.8% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 432 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. Barnett & Company Inc. increased its stake in Black Hills by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Barnett & Company Inc. now owns 7,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $439,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Black Hills by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,919 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $171,000 after buying an additional 222 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in Black Hills by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 6,716 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $393,000 after buying an additional 263 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 8,162 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $477,000 after buying an additional 270 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.71% of the company’s stock.

Black Hills Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE:BKH opened at $60.10 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $4.33 billion, a PE ratio of 15.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.64. Black Hills Co. has a fifty-two week low of $51.11 and a fifty-two week high of $65.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $59.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $59.91.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Black Hills Co. will post 4.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.676 per share. This is a boost from Black Hills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.50%. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.88%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Scotiabank decreased 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 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.