Cibc World Markets Corp Invests $384,000 in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

Cibc World Markets Corp bought a new position in shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 6,557 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $384,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased 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 in the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP bought a new position in Black Hills during the 3rd quarter worth about $96,374,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Black Hills by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,225,653 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $71,725,000 after purchasing an additional 39,369 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings 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 valued at $53,356,000 after purchasing an additional 461,894 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Black Hills by 19.3% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 551,582 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $32,279,000 after buying an additional 89,181 shares during the period. 86.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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 on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th.

Black Hills Stock Up 0.2 %

NYSE:BKH traded up $0.14 on Thursday, hitting $59.62. 307,993 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 419,217. The company has a market cap of $4.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.68. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $59.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $60.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.77. Black Hills Co. has a 52 week low of $50.73 and a 52 week high of $65.59.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, analysts expect that Black Hills Co. will post 4.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $0.676 per share. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.54%. This is an increase from Black Hills's previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Black Hills's payout ratio 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.