Vestcor Inc Sells 721 Shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH)

Vestcor Inc trimmed its holdings in shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH) by 11.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,357 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 721 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in Black Hills were worth $313,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of BKH. Zimmer Partners LP bought a new position in Black Hills during the third quarter worth $96,374,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake 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 valued at $53,356,000 after buying an additional 461,894 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Black Hills in the 4th quarter valued at about $10,490,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Black Hills in the 4th quarter valued at about $8,413,000. Finally, Invenomic Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Black Hills during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $8,260,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.71% of the company’s stock.

Black Hills Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE:BKH opened at $61.34 on Tuesday. Black Hills Co. has a one year low of $50.73 and a one year high of $65.59. The company has a market cap of $4.39 billion, a PE ratio of 15.65, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $59.15 and a 200-day moving average of $60.07.

Black Hills (NYSE:BKH) last issued 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%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Black Hills Co. will post 4.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Black Hills Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $0.676 per share. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.41%. This is an increase from Black Hills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Black Hills’s payout ratio is currently 68.88%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Scotiabank decreased 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.

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.