Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Purchases 203,340 Shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH - Free Report) by 36.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 755,095 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 203,340 shares during the quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned approximately 1.11% of Black Hills worth $40,737,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of BKH. Nebula Research & Development LLC bought a new position in Black Hills during the fourth quarter worth about $1,564,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Black Hills by 3.7% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,821,296 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $395,679,000 after acquiring an additional 279,987 shares during the period. Versor Investments LP increased its position in Black Hills by 227.3% during the fourth quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 31,425 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,695,000 after acquiring an additional 21,825 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co increased its position in Black Hills by 246.0% during the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 40,501 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,185,000 after acquiring an additional 28,797 shares during the period. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Black Hills by 2,366.5% during the fourth quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 111,289 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $6,004,000 after acquiring an additional 106,777 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.71% of the company's stock.

Black Hills Price Performance

Shares of BKH traded up $0.25 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $53.13. The company had a trading volume of 943,531 shares, compared to its average volume of 507,310. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $54.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.56. Black Hills Co. has a 1-year low of $46.43 and a 1-year high of $61.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.73. The company has a market capitalization of $3.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.13 and a beta of 0.69.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.17. Black Hills had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 8.37%. The company had revenue of $726.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $683.00 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.73 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 21.1% compared to the same quarter last year.

Black Hills Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th were paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.89%. Black Hills's payout ratio is currently 64.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Rebecca B. Roberts sold 3,094 shares of Black Hills stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.84, for a total transaction of $169,674.96. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,956 shares in the company, valued at approximately $436,307.04. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on BKH. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Black Hills from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Black Hills from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Black Hills from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, May 10th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Black Hills from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Black Hills presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $55.60.

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.