Larson Financial Group LLC Increases Stock Position in Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

Larson Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) by 182.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 461 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 298 shares during the quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Black Hills were worth $27,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of BKH. Zimmer Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of Black Hills in the 3rd quarter worth about $96,374,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Black Hills by 109.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 882,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $53,356,000 after purchasing an additional 461,894 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Black Hills in the 4th quarter worth about $8,413,000. Invenomic Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Black Hills in the 3rd quarter worth about $8,260,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Black Hills by 19.3% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 551,582 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,279,000 after purchasing an additional 89,181 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Scotiabank reduced 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

NYSE BKH opened at $59.30 on Friday. Black Hills Co. has a one year low of $50.72 and a one year high of $65.59. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $58.95 and a 200 day moving average of $60.02. The company has a market capitalization of $4.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.13, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.68. 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 (NYSE:BKH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 forecast that Black Hills Co. will post 4.12 EPS for the current year.

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.676 per share. 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 4.56%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Black Hills’s payout ratio is currently 68.88%.

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.