Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Has $245,000 Position in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) by 20.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,550 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 771 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Black Hills were worth $245,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased 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. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Black Hills in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,752,000. Diversified Trust Co grew its position in shares of Black Hills by 246.0% in the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 40,501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,185,000 after buying an additional 28,797 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Black Hills by 57.0% in the 3rd quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 159,190 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,053,000 after buying an additional 57,820 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Black Hills by 33.8% in the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 17,215 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $929,000 after buying an additional 4,345 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on BKH shares. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Black Hills from $61.00 to $57.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 9th. StockNews.com lowered Black Hills from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their price target on Black Hills from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.00.

Black Hills Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of Black Hills stock opened at $53.86 on Friday. Black Hills Co. has a one year low of $46.43 and a one year high of $66.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.56. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $52.93 and its 200 day moving average is $52.24. The firm has a market cap of $3.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.74 and a beta of 0.64.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.17 EPS 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 analyst estimates of $863.67 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.11 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Black Hills Co. will post 3.9 EPS for the current year.

Black Hills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.83%. Black Hills’s payout ratio is currently 66.33%.

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.