Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) Position Cut by Leeward Investments LLC MA

Leeward Investments LLC MA trimmed its stake in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 167,522 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,683 shares during the quarter. Leeward Investments LLC MA owned approximately 0.25% of Black Hills worth $9,038,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Black Hills by 678.4% during the third quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 685 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 597 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in shares of Black Hills by 101.2% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 807 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 406 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Black Hills by 525.3% during the third quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,532 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 1,287 shares in the last quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Black Hills by 210.2% during the third quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 1,697 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $86,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC raised its stake in shares of Black Hills by 564.3% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,046 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $110,000 after purchasing an additional 1,738 shares in the last quarter. 86.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Black Hills Trading Down 0.6 %

BKH traded down $0.34 during trading on Friday, reaching $53.86. The company had a trading volume of 460,315 shares, compared to its average volume of 541,967. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $52.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $52.24. The company has a market cap of $3.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.74 and a beta of 0.64. Black Hills Co. has a 12-month low of $46.43 and a 12-month high of $66.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.70.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.11. Black Hills had a return on equity of 8.09% and a net margin of 11.25%. The company had revenue of $591.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $863.67 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.11 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Black Hills Co. will post 3.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Black Hills Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.83%. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.33%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on BKH. Scotiabank lowered their target price on Black Hills from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. StockNews.com lowered Black Hills from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Black Hills from $61.00 to $57.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Black Hills has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.00.

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.