Intech Investment Management LLC Acquires 14,072 Shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

Intech Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) by 106.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 27,261 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,072 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Black Hills were worth $1,595,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BKH. Atria Investments Inc lifted its position in shares of Black Hills by 18.7% during the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 5,874 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $359,000 after buying an additional 926 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its position in Black Hills by 14.1% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 20,034 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,224,000 after purchasing an additional 2,475 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in Black Hills by 19.3% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 210,768 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,882,000 after purchasing an additional 34,129 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised its position in Black Hills by 0.4% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 134,679 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,232,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC bought a new position in Black Hills in the third quarter valued at about $1,463,000. 86.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Scotiabank dropped their target price on Black Hills from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th.

Black Hills Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of BKH stock opened at $59.15 on Friday. The stock has a market cap 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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $59.48 and a 200-day moving average of $60.09. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. Black Hills Co. has a 1-year low of $50.73 and a 1-year high of $65.59.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.37 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%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Black Hills Co. will post 4.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.676 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. 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. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.88%.

About Black Hills

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.