Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 5,963 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $322,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. State of Wyoming purchased a new position in shares of Black Hills in the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 87.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 562 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 678.4% in the 3rd quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 685 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 597 shares during the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 60.6% in the 1st quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 652 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 246 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP lifted its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 101.2% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 807 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 406 shares during the last quarter. 86.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Black Hills Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of BKH opened at $52.45 on Friday. Black Hills Co. has a 1-year low of $46.43 and a 1-year high of $66.85. The company has a 50-day moving average of $52.65 and a 200 day moving average of $52.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.38 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.56.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.11. Black Hills had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 8.09%. The company had revenue of $591.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $863.67 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.11 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Black Hills Co. will post 3.9 EPS for the current year.

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 16th were issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is a positive change from Black Hills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.96%. Black Hills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BKH has been the subject of several analyst reports. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Black Hills from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Black Hills from $61.00 to $57.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Black Hills from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Black Hills presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.80.

Black Hills 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.