Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Has $2.51 Million Stock Position in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board lessened its stake in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) by 14.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 42,860 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 7,354 shares during the quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board owned about 0.06% of Black Hills worth $2,508,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Quantinno Capital Management LP bought a new position in Black Hills in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $275,000. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Black Hills by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 500,826 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,610,000 after buying an additional 21,697 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Black Hills by 2.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,663,157 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $101,671,000 after acquiring an additional 33,853 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Black Hills during the third quarter valued at $1,185,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Black Hills by 109.8% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 882,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $53,356,000 after acquiring an additional 461,894 shares during the last quarter. 86.71% of the stock is owned by 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 for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th.

Black Hills Stock Up 2.5 %

NYSE:BKH opened at $59.80 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. Black Hills Co. has a 12-month low of $50.73 and a 12-month high of $65.59. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $59.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.64.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last posted 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%. Equities research analysts expect 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $0.676 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This is a positive change from Black Hills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.52%. Black Hills’s payout ratio 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.