HighTower Advisors LLC Purchases 43,089 Shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

HighTower Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) by 42.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 145,424 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 43,089 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Black Hills were worth $8,510,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Black Hills by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,663,157 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $101,671,000 after buying an additional 33,853 shares during the period. Zimmer Partners LP bought a new position in shares of Black Hills in the third quarter worth $96,374,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Black Hills by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,225,653 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $71,725,000 after purchasing an additional 39,369 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Black Hills by 109.8% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 882,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $53,356,000 after purchasing an additional 461,894 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Black Hills by 19.3% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 551,582 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,279,000 after purchasing an additional 89,181 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.71% of the company’s stock.

Black Hills Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE BKH opened at $61.34 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.97. Black Hills Co. has a 52 week low of $50.73 and a 52 week high of $65.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.65, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.68. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $59.15 and its 200 day moving average is $60.07.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.17. Black Hills had a return on equity of 7.82% and a net margin of 12.84%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Black Hills Co. will post 4.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 given a $0.676 dividend. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This is a boost from Black Hills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. Black Hills’s payout ratio is currently 68.88%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Scotiabank decreased their price target 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 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.