Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) Shares Sold by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans cut its stake in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) by 15.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 178,923 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 31,845 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Black Hills were worth $10,470,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BKH. Zimmer Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Black Hills in the third quarter worth approximately $96,374,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Black Hills by 109.8% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 882,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $53,356,000 after acquiring an additional 461,894 shares during the last quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Black Hills in the fourth quarter worth approximately $10,490,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Black Hills in the fourth quarter worth approximately $8,413,000. Finally, Invenomic Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Black Hills in the third quarter worth approximately $8,260,000. 86.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Black Hills from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th.

Black Hills Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of BKH stock opened at $59.15 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.68. 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 Co. has a fifty-two week low of $50.73 and a fifty-two week high of $65.59. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $59.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $60.09.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.37 earnings per share 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%. On average, analysts anticipate that Black Hills Co. will post 4.12 EPS for the current year.

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.676 per share. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.57%. This is a boost from Black Hills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Black Hills’s payout ratio is 68.88%.

Black Hills 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.