Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its stake in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) by 28.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 203,554 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 80,699 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.28% of Black Hills worth $12,441,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Black Hills by 0.4% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 949,278 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $51,622,000 after acquiring an additional 3,544 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Black Hills by 1.1% during the second quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 51,960 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,826,000 after buying an additional 564 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Black Hills by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 4,736 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $258,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Black Hills during the 2nd quarter worth $1,200,000. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its holdings in Black Hills by 11.8% in the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 16,510 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $898,000 after purchasing an additional 1,749 shares in the last quarter. 86.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Black Hills Price Performance

Shares of BKH stock opened at $58.55 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.97. The company has a market capitalization of $4.19 billion, a PE ratio of 15.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 0.71. Black Hills Co. has a twelve month low of $49.33 and a twelve month high of $65.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20.

Black Hills Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were given a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.44%. Black Hills’s payout ratio is currently 69.89%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Scotiabank upped their target price on Black Hills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $61.25.

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.