Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Acquires 43,278 Shares of Black Hills Corporation $BKH

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board increased its holdings in shares of Black Hills Corporation (NYSE:BKH) by 85.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 94,123 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 43,278 shares during the quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board owned about 0.13% of Black Hills worth $5,280,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. IMA Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in Black Hills during the first quarter worth $30,000. Clearstead Trust LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Black Hills during the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. Spire Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 4,115.4% during the 2nd quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 548 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 535 shares during the period. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Black Hills during the 2nd quarter worth about $43,000. Finally, Hilltop National Bank acquired a new position in Black Hills in the 2nd quarter valued at about $50,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on BKH shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Black Hills from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday. Scotiabank upgraded Black Hills from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $81.00 in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Bank of America raised Black Hills from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $57.00 to $64.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $71.00.

Black Hills Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of BKH opened at $69.81 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. Black Hills Corporation has a 12 month low of $54.92 and a 12 month high of $72.22. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $62.76 and its 200-day moving average is $59.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.09 billion, a PE ratio of 17.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.76.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.45. Black Hills had a return on equity of 7.81% and a net margin of 12.68%.The business had revenue of $430.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $439.96 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.35 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Black Hills Corporation will post 4.12 EPS for the current year.

Black Hills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.676 per share. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 17th. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio is 68.18%.

Insider Activity at Black Hills

In related news, CFO Kimberly F. Nooney sold 14,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.70, for a total value of $1,025,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 34,621 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,447,704.70. The trade was a 29.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.63% of the company’s stock.

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.