Vanguard Group Inc. Has $503.40 Million Position in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH - Free Report) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,602,223 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 37,790 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 12.02% of Black Hills worth $503,402,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in Black Hills by 4,751.1% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 16,154 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $945,000 after acquiring an additional 15,821 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 19.3% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 102,335 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $6,257,000 after purchasing an additional 16,522 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Black Hills by 2.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,663,157 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $101,671,000 after buying an additional 33,853 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Black Hills by 264.8% in the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 28,139 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,720,000 after buying an additional 20,425 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Black Hills by 16.0% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 408,877 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $24,991,000 after buying an additional 56,440 shares in the last quarter. 86.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Black Hills from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th.

Black Hills Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BKH traded down $2.50 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $58.33. 618,782 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 453,069. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $59.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $60.07. The company has a market cap of $4.20 billion, a PE ratio of 14.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.64. 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 1-year low of $50.73 and a 1-year high of $65.59.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.37 earnings per share 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%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Black Hills Co. will post 4.12 EPS for the current year.

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.676 dividend. This is an increase from Black Hills's previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Black Hills's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.