Proficio Capital Partners LLC Makes New Investment in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 19,019 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,113,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund grew its stake in Black Hills by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 14,522 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $850,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank grew its stake in Black Hills by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 32,712 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,914,000 after acquiring an additional 730 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Black Hills in the 4th quarter worth about $54,000. Navellier & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Black Hills in the 4th quarter worth about $591,000. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Black Hills during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $643,000. 86.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of Black Hills from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th.

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Black Hills Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE BKH traded up $0.64 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $60.09. 622,361 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 480,908. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $58.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.98. Black Hills Co. has a one year low of $50.72 and a one year high of $65.59. The company has a market cap of $4.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.68.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 7.82%. On average, analysts predict 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.676 dividend. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.50%. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.