Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Grows Stake in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its stake in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 132,754 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,704 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Black Hills were worth $7,769,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of BKH. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Black Hills by 66.8% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 432 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Black Hills by 182.8% during the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 461 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 298 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Black Hills by 181.5% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 473 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Black Hills by 373.2% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 530 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 418 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in shares of Black Hills by 83.3% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 625 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 284 shares during the last quarter. 86.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Scotiabank dropped their price objective on 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 NYSE:BKH opened at $59.15 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.09, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.97. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $59.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $60.09. Black Hills Co. has a 52-week low of $50.73 and a 52-week high of $65.59.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.17. Black Hills had a return on equity of 7.82% and a net margin of 12.84%. Analysts expect that Black Hills Co. will post 4.12 EPS for the current year.

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a $0.676 dividend. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.88%.

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.