Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Sells 56,802 Shares of Black Hills Corporation $BKH

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lowered its position in Black Hills Corporation (NYSE:BKH) by 55.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 45,172 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 56,802 shares during the quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd owned approximately 0.06% of Black Hills worth $2,782,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BKH. Spire Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Black Hills by 4,115.4% in the second quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 548 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 535 shares during the period. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Black Hills in the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Black Hills by 37.8% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 641 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Black Hills in the second quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, Hilltop National Bank bought a new position in Black Hills during the second quarter worth about $50,000. 86.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank raised shares of Black Hills from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $81.00 in a report on Friday, November 7th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Black Hills in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Black Hills from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $75.67.

Black Hills Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BKH opened at $73.26 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.75. Black Hills Corporation has a 1 year low of $54.92 and a 1 year high of $74.23. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $70.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $64.70.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.45. The company had revenue of $430.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $439.96 million. Black Hills had a return on equity of 7.86% and a net margin of 12.54%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.35 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Black Hills Corporation will post 4.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be paid a $0.703 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $2.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.8%. This is a positive change from Black Hills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 70.96%.

Insider Transactions at Black Hills

In other Black Hills news, CFO Kimberly F. Nooney sold 14,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.70, for a total transaction of $1,025,150.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 34,621 shares in the company, valued at $2,447,704.70. This represents a 29.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.63% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Black Hills Company Profile

Black Hills Corporation is a diversified energy company based in Rapid City, South Dakota, that provides electricity and natural gas distribution services to residential, commercial and industrial customers. Through its regulated utility subsidiaries—Black Hills Power, Cheyenne Light & Power, and Black Hills Energy—the company delivers reliable energy across Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming.

In addition to its distribution operations, Black Hills owns and operates a generation portfolio that includes natural gas–fired plants, coal-fired units, hydroelectric facilities and wind projects.