Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes $1.03 Million Position in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 19,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,030,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted 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 buying an additional 279,987 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in Black Hills during the third quarter worth approximately $1,752,000. Diversified Trust Co lifted 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 buying an additional 28,797 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Black Hills by 57.0% during the third quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 159,190 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,053,000 after buying an additional 57,820 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Black Hills by 33.8% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 17,215 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $929,000 after buying an additional 4,345 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.71% of the company’s stock.

Black Hills Price Performance

NYSE:BKH opened at $54.54 on Thursday. Black Hills Co. has a 52 week low of $46.43 and a 52 week high of $66.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The company has a market capitalization of $3.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.91 and a beta of 0.64. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $52.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $52.20.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last issued 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 return on equity of 8.09% and a net margin of 11.25%. The business had revenue of $591.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $863.67 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.11 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Black Hills Co. will post 3.9 EPS for the current year.

Black Hills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.77%. Black Hills’s payout ratio is presently 66.33%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Black Hills from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Black Hills from $61.00 to $57.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their target price on Black Hills from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.00.

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.