19,100 Shares in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) Acquired by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 19,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,030,000.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Black Hills by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,821,296 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $395,679,000 after purchasing an additional 279,987 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Black Hills by 16.3% in the 3rd quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,344,162 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $68,001,000 after purchasing an additional 188,266 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Black Hills by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 957,856 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $48,458,000 after purchasing an additional 3,925 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 884,408 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $44,742,000 after acquiring an additional 18,942 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 15.6% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 786,811 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $39,805,000 after acquiring an additional 106,464 shares in the last quarter. 86.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BKH. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on Black Hills from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Black Hills from $61.00 to $57.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Black Hills from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Black Hills has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.00.

Black Hills Stock Performance

NYSE BKH opened at $54.54 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.91 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.70. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $52.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $52.20. Black Hills Co. has a fifty-two week low of $46.43 and a fifty-two week high of $66.85.

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. The firm had revenue of $591.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $863.67 million. Black Hills had a return on equity of 8.09% and a net margin of 11.25%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.11 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Black Hills Co. will post 3.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Black Hills Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.77%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.33%.

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.